AV 06th November 2021

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

ED arrests former Maharashtra minister Deshmukh SEE PAGE - 23

Let’s prepare to stay healthy and safe this winter SEE PAGE - 7

inside

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side Community pharmacies “unsung heroes of this pandemic”, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan SEE PAGE - 9

6 - 12 NOVEMBER 2021 - VOL 50 ISSUE 27 India’s integrity is unbreakable, says Amit Shah

PM Modi invites Pope Francis to visit India

SEE PAGE - 25

SEE PAGE -26

COMMUNITY REJOICES PM MODI’S VISIT TO THE UK Just before Diwali, as the Indian Prime Minister visited Glasgow to participate in COP26, he extended an invitation to PM Boris Johnson to visit India at the earliest.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson greets Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, on arrival to COP26 World Leaders Summit at the SEC, Glasgow. Photograph: Karwai Tang/ UK Government

Rupanjana Dutta GLASGOW: The scene is not very different from November 2015. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted with chants and loud cheers from supporters, who travelled from across Britain to Glasgow, to welcome him on a rainy and stormy night.

As the Prime Minister walked into the 18th century estate converted into a hotel near Glasgow, decorated with beautiful flowers, scent and lights, he was received by Scottish bagpipers. About hundred supporters gathered at the hotel doorstep, loudly cheering “Modiji ki jai”, “Har Har Modi” “Bharat mata ki jai”. The Gujarati diaspora’s beloved Modibhai, returned the affection with his unique style of hand-waving, short bows and namastes.

Continued on page 15

Dear Readers, ABPL Group wishes all our readers, well wishers, supporters and advertisers a Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year.

We are delighted to inform you that your much awaited Diwali Magazine-2021 has been posted separately. With rich in informative and vivid articles, this magazine is surely going to add to your celebrations.

Stepping into the New Year and also close to ABPL’s 50 years’ celebration, we are sure that we will continue to receive the same love and co-operation from readers that we received in the past decades. Asian Voice is committed to its readers and we thrive to fulfill our duty of providing our readers with latest, unique and variant subjective news stories around the world every week.

Our team is always on the fore-front to serve the readers at our best and will continue to follow this tradition. This festive season, we continued to publish all our newsweeklies regularly and have kept only one edition closed for Diwali. Kindly note, due to Diwali holidays, the next edition of Asian Voice dated 13th November, 2021 will not be published.

Enjoy the festive moments with your loved ones and be safe.

CB Patel, Publisher-Editor Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar

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6 - 12 November 2021

with Keith Vaz

Jalaram Mandir

celebrations

Zamiha Desai Director, RecommendAsian & ProfessionalAsian Zamiha Desai was born in London to Firoz and Farida Manji, who had come from East Africa and settled in the UK in 1971. She refers to herself as an "accidental entrepreneur", after starting an online community for fun, she made her passion her job, despite all the nay-sayers!

In her mid-forties, she started a Facebook Group, RecommendAsian, in April 2016. It had 219 Asian Female members, sharing ideas, tips and recommendations.

Today the women’s group has over 70,000 members, and the sister group, ProfessionalAsian (for both men & women), has 80,000 members. Both groups are focussed on Asian lifestyles and are affectionately referred to as “the Asian Google”, as you can find advice, products, services, gifts, foods – everything one needs that suit the way we live, all provided by small businesses and entrepreneurs.

1. Which place, or city or country do you most feel at home in?

I feel at home with my family - home to me isn't a place or a location, it's a state of being!

2. What are your proudest achievements?

Bringing our on-line communities into the real world is special. We hold the Hey Gorgeous event – featuring small businesses from ProfessionalAsian. Our members get to see, the amazing products and meet the business owners – it’s my favourite event and the last one in 2019 had 105 businesses and 7,000 visitors!

3. What inspires you?

My members inspire me – and I am blessed to be inspired every day. By stories of bravery, journeys dealing with cancer, women reclaiming their lives after abuse, children learning their mother-tongue, businesses exceeding expectations – the list is endless of simply amazing women and men who are just like you and me.

4. What has been biggest obstacle in your career?

In all honesty I think I have been my own biggest obstacle – as with many entrepreneurs, I took a lot of time second guessing myself, listening to people that didn’t know what they were talking about, self-doubt, imposter syndrome. It took a long time to become more confident.

5. Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?

Without a doubt, my husband, Sham.

He believed in me – even when I didn’t always believe in myself. He supported me when I wasn’t making any money, he encouraged me when I had doubts. And Sham and my dad – when I see their work ethic, I am always inspired.

6. What is the best aspect about your current role?

That I get to do something I love daily and help people to help each other – whether it’s the advice they have received or the difference it has made to their business. I get to help people every day and I love it!

7. And the worst?

I have an incredible admin team – but we all work remotely and at different times. I wish that we were all together more as I think together, we can make things even more special and have a greater impact. It’s frustrating as I know how much more we could do!

8. What are your long-term goals?

To create a more dynamic place for entrepreneurs to flourish, to dispel taboos in our Asian society, to empower women to get access to help they need and to keep loving what we do.

9. If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?

Equality for all, gender, sexuality, race, religion in terms of pay, representation, anti-discrimination, access to education, opportunities - the list goes on. We have a beautiful, vibrant multicultural country that should be celebrated and appreciated by everyone.

10. If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?

Having been reading some literature lately as an Ismaili Muslim, I would say Sir Sultan Muhammed Shah, Aga Khan III; the foresight in his speeches is amazing, his wisdom unprecedented and his ideologies from back then are being talked about by current thought leaders! He was incredible.

Estimated 1.1million victim of Amazon parcel scam Households in the UK are receiving unsolicited Amazon parcels with no return address, they did not order, falling victim to a

scam known as ‘brushing’.

The mail-outs are a part of ruse in which third-party sellers from overseas are attempting to boost their

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standing on Amazon’s ultracompetitive search ranking system.

A survey of nearly 2000 people by ‘Which?’ found that 4% of respondents found that their household received such a package. The figure, if scaled nationally, may be estimated at 1.1 million people.

While the scam does not appear to cost recipients anything, it might have considerable environmental implications. As per survey 63% kept the parcel, while 28% threw them and 16% gave them away.

The multicultural city of Leicester celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Shree Jalaram temple, as well as the launch of the new Jalaram Bapa Organ Donation centre on Thursday, 28th October, 2021.

Dignitaries including Councillors and the Lord Mayor of Leicester, Cllr Deepak Bajaj attended the event to join in the celebra-

tions.

Mr Bharatbhai Patel and his wife, Avril Patel have worked hard to promote Organ Donation in Leicester since Bharatbhai received a kidney from Avril. They also celebrated 10 years of the transplant and have worked hard with the University Hospitals of Leicester and the Renal Unit to raise awareness of Organ Donation within the

Hindu, Jain and other BAME communities.

For the dedicated couple, this was a dream come true, as Ang Daan, or Organ Donation is a great form of service to humanity.

A commemorative souvenir was also released to celebrate the occasion with the history of the temple and its many volunteers who are working with the community in Leicester.

Bhupendra Gandhi receives invite from America Tonight Radio Our regular reader and contributor towards our Letters page, Bhupendra Gandhi has been invited to take part in Radio Interviews, the latest one from Kate Delaney's America Tonight Radio with 3 million regular listeners,

to talk about his novel Olive Grove.

Mr Gandhi has been a regular contributor since 1993. His short stories, poems, interviews and travel briefs have been published in both Asian Voice

and Gujarat Samachar. He went on to write two novels, Ivory Tower and Olive Grove, published in America. These novels are popular with American intellectuals and "Book Agencies".

Claiming asylum ‘not right’ with all correct documents Home Secretary Priti Patel has suggested that genuine seekers fleeing dangerous situations would arrive on UK shores without anything to hand. However, ‘it is not right’ for people to arrive in the UK with all their correct documents and then claim asylum.

She has said that we know that people who are persecuted are often the

ones who are without documentation, without the passport without the permission of their country to

leave, unlike those who have visas and legal documentation.

Patel seeks to get their nationality and borders bill through parliament, the home office spokesperson has said that their new plan for immigration will prioritise protection for the most vulnerable individuals fleeing persecution through safe and legal routes.

Mom accuses 7-year-son’s school of failing him A furious mom, Saria Ullah, whose son studies in St Mary’s Church of England Primary School in Selly Oak, south west Birmingham, says her son can’t spell his own name and is also unable to read or count.

She had hoped the school would be able to monitor the son’s progress and help provide additional support, as is advertised on its website. But, claims the Special Education Needs department, with just one meeting in three years,

failed to offer anything.

Her son did not receive the dedicated school work with personalized targets as promised.

At parent’s evening also she was told that everything was fine, without mentioning ADHD or autism sensory issues.

Police officer accused of disrespecting man’s turban A police officer in Birmingham’s Perry Barr Custody suite has been accused of ‘forcibly removing the turban and stamping on the floor’ of a member of Sikh community who has been arrested for minor traffic offences.

Sikh Council UK who

are protesting outside the Perry Barr Custody said for Sikhs, the turban is like God and is their crown. Any disrespect to that is a disrespect to the faith and also to God. The Professional Standards Department is currently investigating the

alleged incident.

The Sikh who was charged with obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty and two counts of vehicle when the VRM fails to conform with regulations, has been released on bail to appear at court on November 25.

Kenyan nurses couldn’t qualify for UK jobs 290 out of 300 Kenyan nurses who got a chance to work in the United Kingdom as part of a new scheme requested by Kenya this year, failed the English language tests required for UK jobs.

The jobless nurses in Kenya were meant to serve

in the UK’s National Health Service before returning to work in Kenya.

Kenya’s Cabinet Health Secretary Mutahi Kagwe called this unfortunate, and urged health workers to work hard to pass the employment standards set

for the job. He added that Kenya will continue to help people get jobs in Europe and the Middle East refuting the claims that the government has resorted to exporting its labour workforce abroad instead of employing them.

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AsianVoiceNewsweekly

6 - 12 November 2021

‘I’m speaking!’

When US Vice President Kamala Harris interjected her rival candidate Mike Pence for interrupting her during her election debate and said, 'I'm speaking!’, she most likely spoke for all women.

Covid-19 not only locked people inside their homes, but also came as an unprecedented opportunity to reflect on the daily lives of women across the globe. While some households, especially in the eastern part of the world, saw men contributing to the daily chores besides working from home, most women, especially mothers, juggled between kids, cooking and a full time professional job. Try scraping the data at a surface level, and you’ll find more astonishing results. According to data from the 28 out of 39 constabularies that responded to freedom of information (FoI) requests in the UK, the number of Honour Based Abuse cases – including offences such as rape, death threats and assault – rose from 884 in 2016 to 1,599 last year, a rise of 81%. There are estimated to be 12 to 15 so-called “honour” killings in Britain every year.

Talk about ‘under representation’ because that’s perhaps the most apt term to articulate the daily lives of women, they are under-represented across sectors and industries. Women In Travel (CIC) has stated that BAME women are still underrepresented in the UK travel industry, and often young BAME talent overlooks the travel industry as they don’t see many who ‘look like them’ in positions of authority.

A Factual Television Survey Report that surveyed 700 people last November, has found almost three-quarters (73%) of directors/series directors were male. The report stated that women are “more likely to work in, and spend longer in lower-paid editorial roles.” Only 2% of women said they aspired to be a producer. The survey also found women were three times less likely to be offered a second directing role once they had been given a first. The United Nations states that worldwide, women only make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. As a result, there’s a lifetime of income inequality between men and women and more women are retiring into poverty. Across the world, women still get paid 23 per cent less than men.

For women of colour, immigrant women and mothers, the gap widens. The so-called “motherhood penalty” pushes women into informal economy, casual and part-time work, and tends to be larger in developing countries than in developed countries.

In the political arena, Rwanda, the East African country is leading the world with 61% of its parliamentary seats occupied by women. In India, the Lok Sabha has about 10 out of 105 seats reserved for women; 40 being the highest number of women MPs in the ruling party BJP right now. Iceland briefly believed it had made history by electing Europe's first female-majority parliament - before a recount showed it had just fallen short. Some 30 of the 63 seats (47.6%) were won by women.

While there’s still some respite for women in the first world countries as compared to the third world, which in itself is a pity, the most vulnerable and oppressed women are currently trying to survive in Taliban occupied Afghanistan. Women and girls were banned from schools and universities under Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001. Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani indicated women would be allowed to study, but not alongside men. The Taliban have said they will not prevent women from being educated or having jobs. But since they seized control on 15 August, they have asked all women, except those in the public health sector, to stay away from work, until the security situation improves.

When Afghans were fleeing from their homeland to save themselves from the tyranny of Taliban, amid all the rush and stampede at airports, almost no women were to be seen on the ground. It was a heart wrenching situation wherein almost no one knew where they were - safe, violated or in hiding.

To add on to the unimaginable plight of Afghan women, Mahjubin Hakimi, a member of the Afghan women's national volleyball team who played in the youth age group, was beheaded by the Taliban in Kabul and her family had been threatened not to talk to anyone about it. Afghanistan is also now one of very few countries with no women in top government ranks.

While we’re on climate change and summits like COP26 and G20, it is important to note that women are more vulnerable to climate change. A study on Uganda showed that in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), 8 in 10 women are responsible for collecting water for their household. Women are responsible for over 70% of water-related chores and management globally. In India alone, women make up over 65% of the agricultural workforce. Financial stresses due to crop failure and resultant loss in household income increase marital stress, and can result in spousal violence against women. It can also result in economic abuse of women, as men often want to sell the crops the women have grown in the dry seasons, without engaging their wives on the decision. Yet, interestingly, there’s only one place in the UK where women outshine men despite all the atrocities and lack of representation. Women in the villages of Detling and Thurnham in England live longer than men. The average life expectancy of women here is a staggering 95 years. The men here live up to 86 years, which is 9 years less than women.

A dystopian future awaits women, where their role in nurturing the culture and practices of the society as the gender which has tremendous potential to manufacture consent is in trouble. Each death in Covid counts a tremendous loss to a family, and the pandemic cannot be over until the death count becomes zero. Similarly, until the very last of women are empowered and nurtured, the epidemic of women’s oppression wouldn’t end.

India arrives on the world stage India's foreign policy has entered into a new era during Prime minister Narendra Midi's regime. During his first five years in office, he travelled to 55 countries and made 48 foreign trips.

Modi cemented India’s relationship with the United States by deftly building on the accomplishments of the previous UPA regimes. He also moved to build a personal rapport with former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and managed to forge a close relationship with Israel while simultaneously ensuring cordial relationships with Iran, Saudi Arabia , Emirates and other countries in the Gulf. Now India is playing an important role in the world affairs. Addressing the first session of the G20 summit in Rome, PM Modi spoke about the need for a collaborative approach to fight the Covid -19 pandemic covering scientific communities and governments. He spoke for the resilient global supply chains and mentioned India's bold economic reforms and lowering of the cost of doing business in India. Addressing the inaugural session, Modi also informed the G20 leaders about India's pharmaceutical and medical skills highly visible during the Covid pandemic and covered at least 150 countries.

Modi spoke about India's vision of 'One Earth, One Health.'

He also spoke of the need for resilient global supply chains and invited G20 countries to invest in India for supply chain diversification and global recovery from the pandemic. He appreciated the G20's move to make global trade more just by introducing 15% global minimum corporate tax that will prevent tax evasion, money laundering. PM Modi during his meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron agreed to cooperate for rules based order in the region. Modi met PM of Singapore , Lee Hsien Loong and the conversation between the two leaders covered India-Singapore cooperation that was visible during the second wave of Covid-19 in April-May. The inaugural session of the G20 summit was held after PM Modi met Pope Francis in the Vatican City. During the one to one meeting PM Modi invited Pope Francis to India .He was accompanied by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar. The meeting was scheduled only for 20 minutes but went on for an hour. "Had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis. I had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues with him and also invited him to visit India," said a tweet from PM Modi's personal account. They discussed a wide range of issues aimed at making our planet better such as fighting climate change and removing poverty, sources said. It may be recalled that the last Papal visit by Pope Paul II happened in 1999 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. PM Modi visited Rome for the G20 Summit at the invitation of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

Infusing new energy in a climate process desperately waiting for more ambitious actions, PM Modi announced that India would make a one billion-tonne reduction in projected emissions from now until 2030. Making five big-ticket announcements at the climate change meeting in Glasgow, Modi also accepted global demands to agree to a net-zero emissions target, setting a 2070 date to achieve it. India was the largest emitter, and the only G20 country, not to have announced a net-zero target until now, and there was increasing clamor for it to agree to one. That apart, the Prime Minister significantly increased India’s previous climate targets, mentioned in the promises made during the Paris Agreement. India’s target for installed renewable energy capacity by 2030 has been enhanced from 450 GW to 500 GW. At the same time, the share of renewable energy in India’s total electricity generation has been increased to 50 per cent by 2030 instead of 40 per cent earlier. Modi, in fact, said that India will “meet 50 per cent of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030”, but that has never been the target. It has always been about the share of renewable energy in electricity production.

Emphasising that India’s climate targets were not just another promise amongst several made by other countries, Modi said the Paris climate meeting, for him, was more than a mere “summit”. It was a “sentiment, a commitment,” he said, referring to the targets India had set for itself at that meeting.

This is the first time India has taken any climate target in terms of absolute emissions. Before this, the closest reference to altering its emissions trajectory used to be in the form of emissions intensity. This is because under the international climate change architecture, only developed countries are mandated, and expected, to make reductions in their absolute emissions.

India’s new targets are expected to provide a fresh thrust to the climate talks which has been making extremely slow progress for the last few days for the lack of more ambitious action mainly from the developed world. Of particular concern was the failure of the developed world to deliver on its decade old promise of mobilizing at least US $100 billion every year from 2020. That deadline was pushed back last week by at least three years. Modi took the developed countries to task on this, and said US $100 billion was not even enough and must be enhanced substantially. “We all know that all the promises made on climate finance have proved hollow. When we are all increasing our ambition on climate actions, then the ambition on climate finance cannot remain the same that it was at the time of the Paris Agreement,” he said, asking the developed world to commit one trillion dollars every year.

Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. - Albus Dumbledore

Alpesh Patel

Diwali, Wealth and Old Age My grandmother would often say to me, if I was being too smart, “I have seen more Diwalis than you”. Whilst I wish she’d seen many more, this Diwali as we look at COP26, we hope our grandchildren will see many more Diwalis.

I thought the Prime Minister of India’s commitment was focussed, determined, clear and serious. As the world turns to India, India again does her duty in times of war and peace. It didn’t surprise me the Chinese sulked away and have done nothing for the world yet again. The virus of Communism is destroying their souls. The BBC documentary on Chinese spies in Western societies to steal and promote their world view is shuddering it. ‘BBC – China’s Magic Weapon’. Brazil’s leader did not show up. Pakistan’s leader cried off too.

So let us turn to old age and my expertise of investing and the importance of how to live a better retirement. The need, given the budget last week is timely.

How Much Money Do You Need For Retirement?

Retirement is a dream for almost everyone. Relaxing, traveling, enjoying family — they should be the best years of our lives. But how much money do you need for retirement? Working out how much money you need for retirement depends on a variety of factors. One of the most important considerations is your standard of living. The Pensions & Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) suggests that a retired couple's minimum is around 17K a year. For a single person, they recommend 11K. Well in London, that isn’t going to work, is it?

For a more comfortable retirement, the costs shoot up.

The PLSA proposes something in the region of 30K for a couple who want to holiday a few times a year and enjoy other luxuries. Typical convention holds that retirees need around £1million. The 4% rule suggests an annual income of £40,000. However, retirees will need to factor in tax on their pensions.

Do I Need £1m for Retirement?

But do you really need a pension that large for retirement? A lot depends on your future expenses, like healthcare or holidays. One of the other significant factors that affect how long a pension lasts is location. Choosing the correct city to retire in can make a considerable difference.

Either way, many suggest that the general rule is that you'll require about 60-70% of your pre-retirement income.

Of course, not everyone will have the luxury of a million-pound pension pot. Many retirees will need to get by on half that amount. It's never too early to start thinking about retirement — even if you're in your 20s.

The Importance of Saving and Investing The UK state pension is less than £10K per year. While this sum is not insignificant, it falls short of the amount required for a comfortable retirement. Most people will struggle to live on that budget, which underlines the importance of saving and investing.

Saving is a good step, but low bank saving interest rates barely keep up with inflation. As a result, investment should form a vital part of your retirement strategy. The S&P 500 regular returns around 8-10% on investment. A 35year plan with monthly investments of just £483.60 could make you a millionaire.

The S&P 500s performance in recent years has been incredible. £500 per month invested in the index over the last 40 years would be worth a staggering £3.3 million today. Purchasing exchange-traded funds, also known as ETFs, is a great way to track an index like the S&P 500.

Additionally, you could potentially gain market-beating returns with some savvy stock picking and a bit of research.

Of course, not everyone has a spare £500 per month.

However, experts suggest that investors abide by the 50-155 rule. In short, that means investing about 15% of your earnings each year.

Summary Retirement is full of many surprises; not all of them are pleasant. Increased life expectancy, taxes, and inflation are all factors that can chip away at a pension.

Retiring with a comfortable amount takes discipline and some good choices. No matter your age, investing with an eye on retirement is a smart move. Retiring with a million is more than possible.

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The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2021

Ex Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani visits Jain Centre London Gujarat’s Ex Chief Minister Vijay Rupani visited Jain Centre London on 27th October 2021.

The construction work of ‘Jain Centre’ and ‘108 Parshvanath Jinalay’ sited at 64-68 Colindale Avenue, London, NW9 5DR is progressing well.

The shell of this 3 storeyed building is ready and now we are carrying out internal work. We hope to complete the building work in spring of 2023. We are planning Pratistha in summer 2023. We will inform and update you with the progress of the development and Pratistha in due course.

The Jain Centre is 30,000 Sq. ft. architectural splendour of white marble, depicting traditional marble carv-

ings within a modern design that will be functional and flexible. This centre is an iconic Jain Network Chair/CEO - Dr Natubhai Shah place of worship MBE and Jain Network Trustees: Dr Satish and study for Ranka, Vijay Sheth, Bina Holden. major Jain tradiis a real investment for the Jain tions and a Community Centre open Community and the future generato all. tions. This Centre will be a resource The Community Centre includes Centre for educational institutions, library-digital & traditional, multinetworking for businesses, place of faith centre, business offices, conferpilgrimage and a tourist attraction. It ence hall, meeting rooms, 5 guest is likely to be a global hub and onerooms and other necessary infrastrucpoint information on Jainism. It will ture. The Centre will also have a disseminate Jain values and will be a Café/Restaurant and car park for dayplace to practise Peace and Harmony, to-day use. which is the essence of Bhagwan According to Dr Natubhai Shah, Mahavira’s message.

Chair/CEO Jain Network, this centre

Virendra Sharma MP welcomes Prime Minister of Nepal to UK at gala dinner MPs, Peers, civil society, business leaders and British-Nepali’s welcome Sher Bahadur Deuba to the UK for COP26 with a gala dinner in his honour.

In a gala dinner at the Naval and Military Club, between Mayfair and Westminster, Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was welcomed to the UK and feted for his role in building Nepal’s future.

Surrounded by dignitaries from politics and business the evening began with a reception and concluded with a dinner. The dinner was hosted by Virendra Sharma MP, the Chair of the Nepal All-

Virendra Sharma MP with Nepal's Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba

Party Parliamentary Group, who introduced the Prime Minister on stage. The dinner was made possible by the generosity of Ravi Jung Lamichhane and Mahanta Bahadur Shrestha, who

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were present at the dinner, thanked by the audience and welcomed the Prime Minister with garlands.

Speaking to introduce the Prime Minister, Virendra Sharma MP said, “The new government settlement and constitution, after years of civil war in Nepal, has set Nepal on its own self decided course.

Prime Minister it was your leadership that made that possible, you have been fundamental to the position that Nepal is in today.

Your legacy is assured, and yet you continue to strive for the people of Nepal and for the good of the country.

I thank you for your service to both countries.”

The Prime Minister thanked those present for their attendance and congratulated the UK and Nepal on their continued friendship. The Prime Minister outlined his belief in the strength of the relationship between the two countries, and his hopes for

the future.

The Lord Sheikh, Lord Lancaster and Catherine West MP, Shadow Foreign Office Minister, also spoke to welcome the Prime Minister and to toast the Nepal-UK relationship. In the audience, amongst others, were Andrew Rosindell MP, Sharon Hodgson MP close aide to Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer MP, Fleur Anderson MP, Matthew Offord MP, Navendu Mishra MP, Nick Smith MP, Baroness Chapman, Lord Popat, Lord Balfe and others.

In more than 200 years the UK and Nepal have stood together as allies, this gala dinner highlighted that the relationship is as healthy as ever before. The Prime Minister Boris Johnson was unable to attend, but issued his best wishes for the dinner, and announced he was looking forward to meeting Sher Bahadur Deuba in Glasgow for COP26.

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall, VicePatron of the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS), held a reception on 28 October for winners of The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition 2021 at St James’s Palace, London.

The reception was attended by winners and their families, final panel judges and notable literary figures from across the Commonwealth. During the Award Ceremony, the winners were awarded their certificates from HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.

Extracts from the winning pieces were read by RCS Ambassador and author Geri Horner, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and former competition winner Mei Fong, best-selling author Dame Susan Hill DBE and award-winning theatre director Femi Elufowoju Jr. RCS Ambassador Gyles Brandreth acted as compère for the ceremony, during which The Duchess of Cornwall and the RCS Chair, Dr Linda Yueh, spoke about the importance of the competition to elevate the voices of young people around the Commonwealth.

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall said: “On a global scale, the young people who enter this competition bring us together with their powerful stories, essays, poetry and letters on the issues that most matter today, making the profound accessible.”

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition is the world’s oldest international school writing competition. It was founded in 1883 by the Royal Commonwealth Society, who has proudly delivered the competition for nearly 140 years, to promote literacy, expression, and creativity among young people throughout the Commonwealth and help nations achieve UN SDG 4 (Quality Education).

For this year’s competition, 130 volunteer judges, drawn from across the Commonwealth, assessed

the entries on the theme, in the Community Commonwealth, and the final judging panel included best-selling author Dame Susan Hill DBE; Commonwealth Writer's Prize winner and poet, Sia Figiel; international awardwinning theatre maker Femi Elufowoju Jr; academic and former Fijian politician, Emeritus Professor Satendra Nandan; Head of Research for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Dr Paul Edmondson; and 2017 QCEC Senior Runner-up and author, Hiya Chowdhury.

In 2021, the Society was delighted to receive a record-breaking 25,648 entries from all Commonwealth regions with the winners from Kenya, Uganda and India.

The Senior Winner was Kayla Bosire, aged 16, from Nairobi, Kenya. Her entry was titled ‘A Letter from the New World’, which explores what the world looks like thirty years in the future, through the eyes of the Covid-19 virus.

The Junior Winner was Ethan Charles Mufuma, aged 13, from Mukono, Uganda. He was recognised for his entry, 'Okware Our Pandemic Epic', which explores a fictional Okware’s heroic efforts to support his community against the pandemic.

The Senior Runner-up was 15-year-old Aditi Nair from New Delhi, India, who wrote ‘Prithavi Mata’, which imagines an exchange with Mother Earth and explores the impact Covid-19 has on the relationship between humans and the natural world.

Raisa Gulati, aged 14, from Amritsar, India was named as the Junior Runner-up. Her piece, ‘Autobiography of Corona,’ imagines the Covid-19 virus’ thwarted efforts to conquer humanity.

Brighton is the spookiest city in the UK Brighton is the spookiest city in the UK, new research has revealed. The research conducted by online gaming experts CasinoGrounds examined over 30 of the most populated cities in the UK to discover the number of paranormal sightings and graveyards per 100 thousand people, in addition to the percentage of abandoned homes per city.

The study revealed that Brighton is the spookiest city in the UK. The beach city has the highest number of paranormal sightings in the UK with 93.6 sightings per 100 thousand people, as well as the third highest percentage of abandoned homes, with 2.9%. Despite this, Brighton had the lowest number of graveyards per 100 thousand people, with 8.3, which was

joint with Bath for the lowest of the top ten.

The city of Winchester came in second for the spookiest city in the UK. The city has the highest number of graveyards on the list per 100 thousand people, with 38.6.

Many graves in the city are located around Winchester Cathedral, one of Winchester’s most popular attractions. However, the city

had one of the lower percentages of abandoned homes in the list, with 1.1%.

Lancaster topped off the list for the highest percentage of abandoned homes with 4.2%. In combination with this, the city had the second lowest number of paranormal sightings with 13.7 and third highest number of graveyards per 100 thousand people with 21.1 graveyards.

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Social Media influencer fined 24 year old Rawan Abdullah also known as Rawan Bin Hussain is a social media influencer.

In a series of shocking incidents, Rawan shredded a £200 shirt she had given to her husband Mohammed Youssef Migariaf. While on bail, she harassed her husband. She also accused him of infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease.

In the court of law, the Westminster magistrates fined her £6500 for harass-

ment and criminal damages.

She has also been barred from contacting her husband.

Met Police Commissioner says, Sir David’s death a “chilling reminder” Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has warned Londoners of terrorist danger before Christmas because she believes that there may be a London connection associated with potential terror attacks in the future.

She wrote in the Evening Standard, saying “We recently saw in Essex yet another terrorist attack with the terrible murder of Sir David Amess MP, and

Why are people resigning amid the pandemic?

Mass resignations, many without a second job are going to hit the UK’s private sector economy. People are now resigning more than ever from their jobs, despite the ongoing pandemic where there is a job crisis and alarming unemployment because they are unhappy with their working conditions.

A survey of 6,000 workers by the recruitment firm Randstad UK found that 69% of them were feeling confident about moving to a new role in the next few months, with 24% planning a change within three to six months.

The company said it would normally expect up to 11% of workers to move jobs every year, but in its recent warnings, the firm has suggested that this move will harm employers. It

could cost them as much as £25,000 for each worker.

Randstad UK has been advising its clients to start looking at whether they need to improve pay and other conditions to help them retain their best staff.

Victoria Short, CEO at Randstad UK said: “Another factor is burnout. Some teams have been running too hot for too long. The pandemic has changed how some people think about life, work, and what they want out of both. It’s made people step back and rethink their lives. Covid has reminded them that life is too short.”

12-year-old sings her first cover song from ‘Chennai Express’ At a tender age of 12, Stuti Ghosh is a budding British talent in the field of music. Stuti has been training for both Indian classical and western singing by masters in the respective fields.

She dreams and aspires to spread the joy of music to the whole world. Raised away from our motherland, but a true Indian at heart, this young talent is about to make her entry into the hallowed world of music. Stuti is presenting her first cover single ‘Titli’

Stuti Ghosh

from the blockbuster Bollywood movie ‘Chennai Express’ that stars Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone in the lead. The song is rendered by singer Chinmayi Sripaada. You can listen to Stuti’s rendition of the song on below YouTube links.

https://youtu.be/VpNYowy2Q8E or https://youtube.com/user/Jayeetaghosh14

Turnout for Khalistan referendum wasn’t promising

with it, a chilling reminder that the threat of terrorism is very real.”

Less than 2000 people turned up for the Khalistan referendum that was held in London on Sunday, a report said. The majority of the voters were backed by Pakistan.

The Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which organised the referendum, apparently did not get even 150 voters in the

first half and various outfits associated with the Khalistan movement - like Federation of Sikh organization (FSO) and World Sikh Parliament (WSP).

“According to UK watchers, the claims of high turnout in the voting to decide whether Khalistan

should be carved out of Punjab is being projected by Pakistani media,” Hindustan Times reported.

There were only 53 buses near the voting centre. UK watchers told Hindustan Times that the location was Westminster in central London, but not even 50

people turned up with their private vehicles.

Diplomats weren’t sure if there was any verification that the people arriving for the referendum were Sikhs, Pakistanis or Afghans.

Khalistani slogans were shouted and its flag was carried.

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‘Recognise the intersectional nature of racism experienced by women of colour’ Shefali Saxena A former secondary school history teacher, Shabana Marshall is now senior lecturer at a London University, working in teacher education, with a research interest in decolonising our school’s curricula. She also works in Holocaust education as part of her ongoing commitment to raise awareness of the dangers of prejudice and hatred in society. Being a British-Muslim woman of Pakistani/Indian origin, Shabana has lived experience of racism and anti-Muslim hatred in the UK. She strongly believes in the transformative potential of education in addressing social injustice in society.

In an interview with Asian Voice, Shabana Marshall addressed the debate around racism, diversity and inclusion.

As an academic, what is your observation among students about their understanding of diversity and inclusion?

Following the murder of George Floyd in America, and the subsequent increased awareness of race issues raised by the #BlackLivesMatter movement, students and colleagues have sought to better understand

the specificity of racism and how it can permeate all aspects of society, including education. In my context, this has led to increased opportunity for dialogue on issues of race and equality, and the introduction of modules and resources that seek to improve our racial literacy. Whilst all protected characteristics within the diversity and inclusion umbrella remain an important consideration, there is a greater awareness of the need to recognise and address the particular challenges facing students of colour within our education system. As my students are themselves teachers and educators, they have an important role to play in addressing inequalities experienced by their students on the grounds of race.

How much of racism, inequality and lack of cultural tolerance is determined by gender?

It is well documented that boys from BME backgrounds, particularly those from Black Caribbean and Bangladeshi communities, tend to achieve lower grades than their female counterparts. Black boys are also disproportionately excluded from main-stream education, raising important questions as to the extent to which institutional racism plays

Yorkshire woman forces MP Naz Shah’s children to flee their home A 30-year-old Yorkshire woman named Sundas Alam, admitted to sending death threats to Bradford West MP Naz Shah - whose children had to flee their home. Shah’s children were forced to flee her home in the middle of the night after she dialled 999 following “an immediate firearms threat”.

“I really genuinely felt it was an immediate firearms threat,” the Bradford West MP told Yorkshire Post. “I can’t

imagine what they went through,” the MP told the PA news agency. But Ms Shah said: “It won’t stop me doing what I do. I’m just grateful to West Yorkshire Police, really.

“It’s really close to home. We’ve lost two colleagues in the last five years. She added: “I’ve never had to call 999 before, this was the first time. Alam, of Princeville Street, Bradford, admitted to three counts of sending malicious communications and one of perverting the course of justice part-way through her trial at York Crown Court. She was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on November 29.

Toilet wars A Whitehall source told the Mail on Sunday: 'For dignity, security, and safety – the proper provision of separate men's and women's toilets is important.

That's why we are looking at options to ensure separate toilets remain the

standard.' The move is part of a review into publiclyaccessible toilets. The issue of gender neutral toilets has become a battleground between transgender rights campaigners and feminists, who argue they can 'disadvantage' women, it was

reported. Less than 20 women supported the idea of a gender neutral toilet.

Number of “honour-based” abuse soared over the past five years According to data from the 28 out of 39 constabularies that responded to freedom of information (FoI) requests, the number of HBA cases – including offences such as rape, death threats and assault – rose from 884 in 2016 to 1,599 last year, a rise of 81%.

Karma Nirvana, a charity that supports victims of honour-based violence, said

the omission of figures from GMP, England’s third biggest force, was significant as the area generates a lot of calls to its helpline, the Guardian reported.

Natasha Rattu, the director of Karma Nirvana, said: “The fact that there are increases suggests that people are and have been feeling more desperate or more at risk.”

A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesperson said: “We acknowledge that these abuses are hugely underreported and we remain focused on giving victims the confidence and come forward. I urge anyone with information or concerns about honour-based violence to contact the police – your report will be taken seriously.”

Shabana Marshall

a part in how these young people are perceived and marginalised. The deficit view of these boys and their families serves to further perpetuate the inequalities they experience, limiting their educational outcomes.

Do you think Britons must learn more about their colonial past than they do now?

Absolutely! A fuller understanding of Britain’s past is essential towards recognising the many ways in which people of the empire helped create modern Britain, contributing to its stability and its prosperity. For example, approximately 1.4 million soldiers from the Indian subcontinent fought for the British army in World War 1, a number that exceeds troops from Scotland, Ireland and Wales combined! This should be built into our country’s national memory, rather than being treated as a footnote to history. And as architects of the Partition, British leaders played a central role in the trauma, shifting borders and identities experienced by people of the Indian subcontinent. Therefore, this country’s history is inextricably linked to those of the former colonies and should be a key part of the history curriculum.

Do you think racism is internally practiced or nurtured within South Asian households?

This is an interesting question. Growing up in a Pakistani household, I was more aware of colourism, with girls like myself taught to aspire to having ‘fair’ skin by our mothers. This jarred with me, especially as white racists in the street abused me on the grounds of my skin colour, resulting in an overall message that lighter/whiter skin is better. This view was internalised, and I have spent my whole life actively seeking to combat the colourism within me, conscious that this is one of the many colonial legacies that BME people live with. However, I was also taught the importance of allyship by my father, who stressed the importance of standing with our Black sisters and brothers with whom we shared experiences of racism. In this respect boxer and anti-racist Mohammed Ali was an influential role model. He visited our local mosque in Newcastle in the 1970’s and was greeted like family by the whole Pakistani community, it’s a wonderful and enduring memory.

What role can men play in combating racism and lack of inclusion?

Men and women have worked together on many occasions to address inequalities on the grounds of race and gender. As seen in the activism of groups such as the Southall Youth Movement and the Sari Squad in the 1980s, a shared purpose in addressing racism and inequality can help towards affecting change for the better. It’s also important to recognise the intersectional nature of racism experienced by women of colour, and by standing alongside women and supporting their struggles for equality, men can prove themselves to be good allies working to shape a better and more equitable future for all.

Government takes action to support women experiencing menopause Women will benefit from cheaper and easier access to Hormone Replacement Therapies (HRT) to relieve symptoms of the menopause following commitments made in Parliament at the second reading of Carolyn Harris MPs’ Private Members’ Bill.

Working with NHS England, the government will look to implement longer prescribing cycles, in line with NICE guidelines, so women receive fewer prescriptions, reducing the need to pay frequent prescription charges. The government has asked NHS England to review current practice and the barriers to implementing NICE guidelines.

This could mean women would only have to pay one charge for up to a 12 month supply of HRT, saving up to £205 per year as a result.

To further improve access to HRT prescriptions, the government has also committed to look into

combining two hormone treatments into one prescription, which affects approximately 10% of women accessing HRT. Under current rules HRT is sometimes classed as two medicines if it contains both Oestrogen and Progesterone meaning women may be charged twice for one course of treatment.

Early analysis of the Women’s Health Strategy Call for Evidence, which received the biggest ever response to a Department for Health and Social Care consultation with over 110,000 individual responses earlier this year, shows access to HRT and wider

menopause support are key concerns for older women.

Menopause will form a central part of the first ever government-led Women’s Health Strategy, and will consider how to improve access to HRT including through education and training for clinicians on symptoms of the menopause and to ensure HRT is being prescribed to women who would benefit from it.

Alongside the development of the first ever Women’s Health Strategy for England, a new crossgovernment Menopause Taskforce will be established co-chaired by the Minister for Women’s Health and Carolyn Harris MP will be established. The task force will consider the role of education and training, workplace policies and peer groups for menopausal women can play in supporting women through what can be a mentally and physically challenging time.

Women more burned out than men, research says Research links lower incomes to higher stress levels and worse mental health in general. But several studies have also shown more specifically that incidences of burnout among women are greater because of differences in job conditions and the impact of gender on progression.

In 2018, researchers from University of Montreal published a study tracking 2,026 workers over the course of

four years. The academics concluded that women were more vulnerable to burnout than men because women were less likely to be promoted than men, and there-

fore more likely to be in positions with less authority which can lead to increased stress and frustration.

The researchers also found that women were more likely to head single-parent families, experience childrelated strains, invest time in domestic tasks and have lower self-esteem – all things that can exacerbate burnout.

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Let’s prepare to stay healthy and safe this winter It is important to protect ourselves and our loved ones from Covid-19. As we move into the winter months, it is most likely there will be a rise in infection rates, with people returning to offices, schools, universities and when we socialise indoors more and more, especially during the upcoming festivities such as Diwali and Christmas.

The primary route of coronavirus transmission is through virus particles in the air known as aerosols, that are exhaled from the nose and mouth of an infected person as they breathe, speak or cough. These can linger in unventilated spaces like smoke.

Rupanjana Dutta Ventilation: • Meeting outdoors is safer: You are much likelier to catch Covid-19 indoors. Meeting outdoors is harder in colder months, but it can reduce the risk of airborne transmission.

Confined indoor spaces are associated with increased transmission of respiratory infections. Most virus transmissions happen indoors.

• Let fresh air into indoor space: Open your windows every day for at least 10 minutes or frequently for short intervals. It can make a significant difference.

• Open windows when you have visitors: Let fresh air into your home before, during and after people’s visit.

Good ventilation can reduce the risk of passing on Covid-19 indoors. You don’t have to keep windows open for a long time. Opening trickle vents, windows for short span, if it is safe to do so. Regularly airing the rooms for 10-15 minutes by opening windows or in short intervals throughout the day, can help with proper ventilation, without excessive heat loss.

Face covering: • You can still get Covid-19 even if you have been fully vaccinated. 1 in 3 people who have Covid-19 have been asymptomatic.

• Wearing a face covering over your mouth and nose helps. Those who have Covid-19, release contagious droplets when they exhale. People should still wear a mask even if they aren’t showing symptoms of Covid-19, as they can still have the virus and spread it to others.

• Wear a face covering in enclosed spaces where others are around, so that if you have coronavirus without your knowledge, you reduce risk of breathing onto others.

Testing: • NHS Test and Trace will continue to protect the public this winter, limiting the spread of Covid-19 by helping to break the chains of transmission.

• If you have coronavirus symptoms, arrange a free PCR test as soon as possible and self-isolate if positive, regardless of your age or vaccination status.

Since there is less understanding of airborne diseases, there is limited recommendations for effective measures available or proper personal behaviours.

While vaccines remain our best defence against Covid-19, you can still catch the virus, even if you have been vaccinated. Moreover, you can still pass it onto others and put their health in danger, even though you may only feel minor effects yourself. In fact, around 1 in 3 people who have Covid-19 have no symptoms and can spread it without knowing.

Following are the simple and important ways to keep each other safe.

• To keep yourself and others safe, continue to test regularly with rapid Covid-19 tests as 1 in 3 people with Covid-19 have no symptoms.

• If you have symptoms, even mild ones, you should take a PCR test immediately to confirm if you have the virus. Also, don’t forget to keep using rapid lateral flow tests regularly. Around 1 in 3 people with Covid-19 have no symptoms and can spread it without knowing.

• Rapid lateral flow tests are free, easy to do, and results come back within 30 minutes.

• Everyone can get free rapid lateral flow tests by visiting nhs.uk/GetTested or some pharmacies or by calling 119.

• Before you go to the pharmacy, you should register for a collect code which you can get online at gov.uk/ get-collect-code or by calling 119.

This is a code that you need to show when you collect your test packs.

• Reporting all your results whether they are positive, negative, or void, helps to quickly spot when the virus is spreading, identify outbreaks early and respond sooner.

• Reporting your results is easy. Go to: gov.uk/report-covid19-result or call 119 free from your mobile or landline.

• If you test positive, you should immediately self-isolate and confirm your result by taking a PCR test, which you can order online.

• You may wish to consider testing if you feel there will be a period of higher risk that day, either to yourself or others. Some examples include: > Testing before mixing in crowded indoor spaces, for example a nightclub. > Testing before visiting vulnerable people.

Taking a rapid lateral flow test before a period of higher risk will give you peace of mind that you are unlikely to be infectious with Covid-19, and it is unlikely you will spread the virus. If you do test positive, you can then take action to help stop the virus spreading.

Let’s send our children back to school safely. Your family and friends can get tested for free.

For more information visit: gov.uk/coronavirus

Safer behaviours and actions

Get vaccinated

Meeting outdoors is safer. If you meet indoor, let fresh air in

Wear a face covering in crowded and enclosed settings where you come into contact with people you do not normally meet

Get tested, and self isolate if required

Try to stay at home if you are unwell

Wash your hands

Download and use the NHS COVID-19 App

How are people planning to stay well?

Spice Kitchen, a family run business, producing award winning spices, spice blends and gin botanicals, has planned ahead. Speaking to Asian Voice, they said, “We have our systems working really well now in terms of reporting of instances of Covid or sickness and how we then reorganise ourselves. We have a WhatsApp group for staff to share Covid test results. All staff are multi-trained and can step into various roles depending on who is off sick.

“For testing, we are being really strict and are asking staff – in the event of any possible Covid transmission – to take a test at home and then share their positive/negative result with the team before they can come on-site. If someone tests positive for Covid, then we need to see a negative test result before they can return to work.

“We are still encouraging wearing of masks in the unit and have increased our cleaning regime to help minimise infections. Ventilation is really important for us, and we are very fortunate to work in a very large office and warehouse space where firstly, staff can very safely work at a distance, and we can have large windows and doors open.” *** BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Neasden is preparing for the upcoming festivities, especially the Diwali celebration in November. Yogesh Patel

from the temple told us, “All the staff, volunteers and visitors are advised to wear masks/face coverings at all times whilst in indoor spaces within the mandir (temple). The mandir has an in-built ventilation system which is further supplemented by keeping doors and windows open as necessary to ensure circulation of fresh air “We ask and encourage visitors before they come to maintain at least one metre distance from others where possible unless they are within their family bubble. Signage around the mandir also indicates this. Each area in the mandir has a predetermined visitor capacity depending on the size of that area. We recommend everyone to have home tests prior to visiting or volunteering at the mandir.

“We also encourage all (eligible) adults who visit to be double-vaccinated and are confident that all of our volunteers are double jabbed.” *** 71-year-old Kanti Nagda MBE is a social worker and is being cautious about health as the winter approaches.

He said, “My Kanti Nagda MBE wife and I are double jabbed and have also taken the third booster dose.

We are keeping warm, wearing masks when go outdoors, following the UK Government guidelines on keeping safe. We also ensure our house is well ventilated. We understand the Covid-19 risks and are taking all the necessary precautions to keep safe.”

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Vale for Africa Charity Dinner On Saturday 2nd October 2021, curry and fundraising were the main topics on the agenda for a longawaited meeting of friends and supporters of Vale for Africa, a Vale of Glamorgan charity which raises funds for community projects in Uganda, and is affiliated to the nationwide Wales and Africa programme.

Working closely with its partner organisation ACET in the Tororo district of Uganda, the charity supports the provision of water in schools, funds a library, and runs its flagship scheme to send a dedicated eye-care team out to Uganda annually offering eye examinations, spectacles, medical treatment and referrals for sight-saving eye surgery for people who have limited access to facilities which we in Wales perhaps take for granted. Vale for Africa has also supported students from Uganda as they undertake a two year period of sixth form study at UWC Atlantic College in the Vale of Glamorgan.

New pledge and vow to do better

Left to Right: Revd Aled Edwards OBE, Chief Executive –Cytun, Prof Keshav Singhal MBE, Chair BAPIO Wales, Mayor of Barry Steffan William ,Mayor of Vale of Glamorgan Jayne Norman, Dr Peter Dickson MBE, Chair, Vale for Africa Charity, Prof Hasmukh Shah BEM, Trustee, Vale for Africa Charity, Rt.Hon. Mark Drakeford ,MS First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones MS Former First Minister of Wales, Jane Hutt MS Minister for Social Justice, Julie Morgan MS ,Deputy Minister for Social Services

Dreaded terrorists might be walking free soon Three terrorists are applying for release and have been referred to the Parole board. These three men were caught for plotting to - behead a British soldier, bombing a shopping mall and joining ISIS. The leader of the three Parviz Khan, aged 50 right now, had also planned to release the video footage of the event to deter any

muslim from joining British army. Khan was told in 2008 that he must serve for at least 13 years.

The Parole Board said in a statement that a panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of original crime, and any evidence of behavior change.

Huge protest against ‘spiking’ in UK There were demonstrations in more than 40 university towns and cities, with huge crowds of people taking to streets on Wednesday night boycotting nighclubs in a sharp rise in spiking cases.

Lucy Nicholas, 21, described it as a ‘spiking epidemic’ sweeping the UK, opening the Manchester demonstration in front of at least 100 young people.

What began less than a fortnight ago as a nightclub boycott prompted by a spate of spiking

cases, some allegedly involving needles is becoming something bigger according to a call to arms from a generation of young women.

Further protests and boycotts are planned in the next 10 days, including in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cardiff and London.

Cockroach spotted in British Airways kitchen galley A shocking film of travellers on a New York to London flight, spotting a cockroach where food is prepared, has caused turbulence among the airline bosses. The insect that was believed to be among boxes of orange juice, was filmed in a metal container in which food and drink is stowed on to aircraft.

In the footage, a disgusted stewardess can be heard exclaiming, “Oh my God!” as she sees the bug. Cockroaches can carry diseases such as salmonella, dysen-

tery and gastroenteritis. British Airways has said that they are looking into the matter. The airline is investigating the matter and has also apologised to all passengers on the flight.

Masks not mandatory for MPs in Commons Face coverings are mandatory to be worn by everyone who works at the House of Commons except MPs. The commons authorities have said that all staff, visitors, contractors and press must cover their faces to combat the spread of Covid.

But, the health secretary said on Monday that it was a personal decision for ministers and backbenchers as to whether they did it.

As MPs are not employed by the Commons authorities they cannot be forced to wear masks.

Most opposition parties including Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP have decided to cover their faces during debates. As per latest official guidance people in England should cover their faces around ‘people you don’t normally meet’.

Police officers sacked for not arresting suspect A domestic abuse suspect was breaching bail conditions by being at his partner’s flat and previously been marked as a potential danger to neighbours.

However, the Great Manchester Police constables PC Lee-Green and PC Hussain allowed the man to walk free after being called to the disturbance.

The officers’ lie came to light

after a watching neighbour told other officers that the man at the house during the incident on 3rd April 2020 had definitely been the suspect. The two constables only stuck to their story when they were questioned eight days later. A three-day hearing concluded their inaction could have endangered the suspect’s partner and sacked the pair.

Driver wanted for vehicle theft, dangerous driving Johal Rathour, 18, with links to Newham, Romford, Grays and Erith (Kent) is wanted for failing to stop for police after driving the wrong way down the 1.35 km Blackwall tunnel between Tower Hamlets and Greenwich shortly after 4am on August 6.

Anyone who has any information on this man identified as

an Asian man 5ft 8inches tall, with black curly hair and a beard. The man has a distinctive horizontal scar between his eyebrows and a hand tattoo that reads ‘Mum’.

Callers can call on police on 101 or remain anonymous by calling the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800555111.

PM’s private air-trips pump 52 tons CO2 While world leaders are discussing climate at COP26 in Glasgow, it is revealed that Prime Minister Johnson’s luxury air travel habit has pumped an estimated 52 tons of CO2 into the air with party political campaign trips on private jets and VIP charter planes.

Boris Johnson has spent at least GBP216,000 on private flights since becoming Prime Minister over more than 20

flights on private aircraft since becoming PM. While it would have taken a year for a typical petrol powered car to emit the equivalent carbon dioxide released by the jet in just an hour, Mr. Johnson could have made all the trips using alternate forms of transport which produce far less carbon dioxide without much difference in travel time.

916 escaped criminals moving scot-free According to the Home Office data 916 foreign criminals including 16 rapists, 20 sex offenders, 53 robbers, 16 burglars, 53 violent criminals, murderers and 65 thieves are listed as absconders.

They have avoided authorities' clutches by escaping from jails, prison vans or disappearing after release into the community.

Despite Home Secretary Priti Patel’s tough rhetoric on kicking out foreign crooks,

spending to tackle immigration enforcement has dropped by £40million in two years.

The Home Office Spokesman has said that they have removed 8441 foreign national offenders since January 2019 and that they have a dedicated national absconder tracing team working with police, other government agencies and commercial companies to track down and bring absconders back into contact.

Rohit Vadhwana During the week, we are celebrating Diwali festivities. These five days, or even longer, the festival is significant in Indian culture, especially for Gujaratis because the next day is New Year. On the festival of Diwali, we take the new pledge and vow to do better in the coming year. This week also signifies a major conference of world leaders at Glasgow to tackle the climate change issue. Here world leaders have taken a pledge to fight climate change as an urgent threat, by taking credible actions. As an individual and family, let's take five pledges to change our lifestyle and planet to be more climate-friendly and sustainable.

1. Love your wardrobe: The fast-fashion lifestyle is not climate-friendly. Each piece of clothing in the wardrobe has to be used to its life, not to the changing fashion. Just see how much effort and resources have gone into making that final product. Throwing away a t-shirt or jeans after wearing them twice is not commensurate to the labour and resources used in making them. Why not use them till they last? Why can’t it be a new trend to respect each hour of work that has gone into making them?

2. Eat till the last bite: Waste of food is rampant in modern, especially urban lifestyles. With an increasing number of people moving towards urban centres, more options of fast food and easy delivery, this problem is going to increase. In Indian culture, people worship the food on the plate before having the first bite.

This means food is God, and worshipful.

Believing in this philosophy and lifestyle, we should be discouraged from wasting any food.

3. Don’t fear losing a race: In lifestyle, career or anything else, do not fear that you will lose if you don’t participate in the rat race. Sometimes it feels that the world is going crazily fast and if we don’t run along, we will be left behind. Don’t come under that pressure of maintaining this race. Go along at your pace that suits your goals, your lifestyle and your health.

Everyone has different goals in life to achieve. You don’t need to follow others.

So, without fear of losing a race, which does not matter to you, keep a healthy balance.

4. Keep your connections close: Do not keep expanding on your contacts.

Rather keep your connections closer to you. It is not about maintaining contact that matters at the end of the day, but actually developing connections, emotional and social, is more important.

Maintain those connections which are true and strong relations for you. Do not lose out on them.

5. De-clutter on this Diwali: Every year, near Diwali, people clean their house and tidy it up. They throw away useless stuff or donate them. This makes more space in the house, and also keeps it clean.

Similarly, let’s declutter our mind and lifestyle on this Diwali. Let’s throw away harmful and unhealthy habits and thoughts. Maintain only useful and essential ideals in life.

These five pledges are broader. Details you have to decide for yourself, according to your requirement and lifestyle.

(Expressed opinions are personal)

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6 - 12 November 2021

Community pharmacies “unsung heroes of this pandemic”, says London Mayor Sadiq Khan Shefali Saxena The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is urging Londoners to get their flu jab and Covid-19 booster shot to protect themselves, their loved ones and the NHS this winter.

Sadiq, who was invited by his GP to receive his booster and flu jab at a pharmacy in Tooting last week, is also urgently calling on the Government to step up efforts now to slow the spread of the virus. This includes making face coverings mandatory and enforceable by the police on all public transport, improving ventilation in schools and busy public indoor settings and increasing the support available to those who have to self-isolate.

His calls come as figures show cases and hospital admissions continue to rise in London with recorded infection rates over half-term higher than they were this time last year.

More than 400 vaccination sites are currently open across London with NHS hospital hubs, GP practices, local pharmacies and midwifery services working across our city in the fight against the virus.

Those eligible for the free flu vaccine and Covid-19 booster jab are being urged to book their appointments as soon as possible in order to stay well this winter and avoid adding pressure to London’s A&Es and hospital beds. Parents of young Londoners aged 12-15-year-old are also being urged to book children in for their first dose of the vaccine which is now being offered out of school.

The Mayor’s call comes as health experts warn of a significant risk of flu surging this winter alongside rising Covid-19 cases with the UK Health Security Agency warning that those who catch flu and Covid at the same

time this winter are twice as likely to die than those who only have Covid-19.

Colder weather and fewer measures being in place to stop the virus spreading combined with increased social contact indoors after-dark this winter could mean thousands more Londoners need hospital treatment for Covid-19.

The Mayor is asking Londoners to help prevent the spread of the virus by wearing a face mask in crowded and enclosed areas, sticking to good habits like regularly washing hands and taking a PCR test if they show any symptoms of the virus.

In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, the Mayor spoke about the importance of community pharmacy, women’s safety, security of MPs and climate change.

Community Pharmacy The Mayor told us, “I've just had my flu jab at a community pharmacy. Pharmacists have been fantastic during this pandemic and community pharmacy in particular, when GP practices weren't seeing patients face to face, where hospitals weren't seeing patients. When dentists were closed down, our pharmacies were open. Our community pharmacies had been the unsung heroes of this pandemic. I was really pleased and proud to go to my local pharma to receive my Covid booster jab as my flu jab as well. I want to thank them for the amazing work they've done. That's why it's so important for government support pharmacists, because the primary care suffering the problems, it's winter, more and more people will rely upon the pharmacist they trust, the health care services.”

Women’s Safety When asked about the recent mishaps relating to women’s safety, including spik-

ing at night clubs, cold blooded murders and women losing faith in police officers, Sadiq Khan said, “Well, it's really important that we tackle the issue of the epidemic of violence against girls. It's really important to make sure we're going to girls, which is also built to tackle the behaviour of boys and men. We've got to make sure that we have laws.

“For example, misogyny should be a hate crime. Harassment of women in a public space should be a criminal offense, but we also need to invest in the police. But also we need to make sure the police are properly scrutinised. That's why I work and the independent review that they will use will do that piece of work of legal inquiry of the Secretary as ordered, we need to make sure we get proper financial support for London.

We're lobbying the government for proper long term financial skills. But in the meantime, the good news is that the Night Tube will return. Next month in November two of the lines are the Victoria line, which goes from a daughter south of the Central line, which goes from east to west. It's really important to do what we can to make the public realm safe for women and women to have self imposed curfews and to change their lifestyle. Because of that, we're going to tackle the perpetration of men to do what we can to keep our city safe.”

Encourage minority communities or encourage women to get involved in public service Furthermore, Khan also acknowledged that it is very important that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic hold key positions of power and influence - who encourage minority communities or encourage women to get involved in public service, politics and

representative activities.

Sharing his sentiment on the recent and unfortunate killing of Sir David Amess and the questions of security among MPs and people in power, Sadiq elaborated, “But when you see the situation where politicians are having threats to their life, you have to encourage youngsters to get involved in politics. That's why it's so important that we keep our politicians safe, and don’t lose what's special about our democracy, our ability to mix and mingle with constituents, have surgeries, where constituents can come in, and share their problems with the MP or counselors or the man to solve those problems. So we've got to evolve and adapt to make sure our politicians are safe. But also make sure we don't lose what's special about our democracy. And it's really important that people realise that there are bad people who make threats to politicians, because of the color of their skin, or because of the gods they worship. We're going to talk about that and address those problems.”

London and Climate Change According to Mr Khan, the poorest Londoners least likely to own a car, who suffered the worst consequences. “By expanding the universe, 18 times bigger than the previous years, it covers a population twice the size of Paris, will have horrible luxuries benefiting for cleaner. This is an issue that affects young children who have stunted lungs, adults with a whole host of health issues from asthma, from cancer to dementia of heart disease. We hope it'll make a big difference,” Khan told the newsweekly.

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One billion and counting (By Ruchi Ghanashyam – AV 30 Oct – 5 Nov 2021) shows what India is capable of doing the best with joint efforts and single-minded determination. Lots of effort and persuasive skills are required in a multi-cultural country like India.

Our scientists, researchers, production teams in laboratories, logistics and paramedical staff work in tandem to make sure that the country becomes safe from this invisible killer. I think this is a major achievement after polio vaccination in India.

Everybody likes to celebrate success. India is in a festive mood due to Diwali and other festivals. We need to remember the statement of our PM Modi “Don’t let guard down in festive season”. The success we have achieved in terms of vaccination of one billion is a sequel of people who have worked very hard for the country.

We need to remember them and make sure that we follow the advice issued by the medical fraternity and the government from time to time.

We cannot afford any laxity in terms of not maintaining social distance or meeting in close places. Masks should be worn as a precautionary measure and avoid unnecessary journeys especially to be followed by older people. Let us continue cautious approval for some more time because Covid is still there so prevention is better than cure should be the mantra.

Hitesh Hingu London

Is COP 26 Summit, waste of time?

The hyped-up COP 26 Summit of G20 nations, brain-child of our too eager to please jocular PM Boris may turn out to be waste of time and money, all paid by us, tax-payers, especially when money is so tight and urgently needed on more deserving causes, like NHS, Housing, Social Care and on many more fronts, as pointed out in the budget which needs borrowing in billions to balance books. We are burdening our younger generation with huge debt that will take decades to clear. Without full cooperation and participation of most polluting nations like China and main energy supplier Russia, it would be meaningless gesture. Chinese and Russian President's Xi Jinping and Putin have refused to attend, take part in this charade when promises made at the last such summit in Paris jetsam, remain unfulfilled. Even American participation is doubtful, although US President Joe Biden is fully committed but US Senate has shown little interest, as many jobs and future of some Senators, especially representing coal-mining areas are at stake.

Many Democrats remember how Donald Trump played this card and won against all odds, as in Hilary Clinton, Democrats had a winnable candidate. But Trump out-smarted her and concentrated on issues that matters most to voters, namely jobs and prosperity.

Now that we are at odds with EU and French president Emmanuel Macron playing politics at our expense, in view of the forthcoming French presidential election, it is time PM Boris makes up with Russia who could be a better ally than France.

In any case people trust and are more inclined to listen to Prince Charles and William and climate activist omnipresent Greta Thunberg who attracts mass audiences. She is a first class orator, although hardly out of her teens and English is not her first language.

Bhupendra M. Gandhi

EU recognizes NHS Covid certificates for travel

took months.

The Department of Transport has said that it will continue to review the red list every

three months. The framework, including testing requirements will next be reviewed in the new year.

17 year old genius wins King’s Scholarship

Jasamrit Rahala, 17, lives with his family at a modest twoup two-down in Slough, Berkshire. Turning to Countdown, the game show at 7 years of age, he has won a King’s Scholarship at Eton College and has qualified for Countdown finals after winning seven games of the Channel 4 show last week.

His first public attention came at 10 years of age when he was the runner-up in Child Genius. Before two years he joined forces with his father, Santokh and his cousin Parvon in the ITV contest Britain’s Brightest Family. However, Rahala is sworn in to secrecy on how he did in the Countdown finals before they are broadcast in December. He plans to apply for Mastermind and Only Connect when he turns 18.

Nearly quarter-million stray cats roaming in Britain A study on cat sightings in five urban areas over a year by experts and volunteers revealed that there are on an average 9 unowned cats per square meter in urban areas of England. The actual figure varies from 2 to 57 per square meter. This makes around 250,000 stray cats in Britain’s towns and cities.

The patterns suggested that areas with more humans tended to have more cats, which may be due to more availability of food. It was also seen to have more density of stray cats in the most deprived

areas.

There are an estimated ten million pet cats across

Hussain youngest to No buyers for £3million complete special forces Indian Mughal-era spectacles selection march Salahudeen ‘Sal’ Hussain, 16, is a muslim who did his Royal Marines cadet who did his training during Ramadan without food or water, is thought to be the youngest person to complete the grueling special forces selection march called the ‘fan dance’.

Hussain hopes that better understanding of the stories of Muslim heroes in the British military will inspire more Asian young-

sters to join up.

He will soon be installed as the lord-lieutenant’s cadet, which will involve him accompanying the Queen’s representative in South Yorkshire during ceremonies including those to mark Remembrance Day in his home city of Sheffield.

Muslims make up 5% of Britain's population and their proportion is 0.6% in the regular army and 0.4% in armed forces.

Sotheby’s put on auction two pairs of spectacles of the Indian Mughal-era with an estimate of GBP3million, whose original owner was not known, were withdrawn from sale yesterday after failing to reach the estimated price, unlike expectations. Sotheby’s said that the spectacles were the ultimate status symbol bringing together science, beauty and belief. Alexander Roy who is a specialist in the arts of Islamic world at Sotheby’s in London said

Metropoliton Police officer charged with rape PC Adam Zaman, 28 based in the east area command unit covering east London is accused of carrying out an attack at a luxury hotel in Liverpool Street in the City. He has been charged with rape after an incident at the weekend when he was off duty.

Zaman strenuously denied the alleged rape at the Andaz hotel in the court.

The court heard Zaman had been suspended from

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One billion and counting

The European Union has announced that now Britain’s digital Covid pass would be treated as the same as bloc’s Covid certificate, which was introduced in July. This means that fully jabbed Britons visiting countries that have adopted vaccine passports for bars, restaurants, museums and events will no longer have to take regular coronavirus tests.

The UK had been lobbying the EU to accept the NHS pass since the summer.

However, negotiations stalled and technical tests

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his post, which he has held since 2016. The Met said its directorate of professional standards had been

informed.

The matter has been referred to the Independent Office for Police conduct.

that there are so many stories behind the spectacles. The Mughals loved the gemstones and the emeralds came from Columbia in 17th century through Portuguese merchant ships to the Mughal empire.

the UK. Over 40,000 stray cats were already known to enter UK shelters annually.

29 LGBT Afghans rescued from Taliban Since the end of Operation Pitting in which 15000 people were brought out of Afghanistan to Britain the UK helped more than 1300 people to flee.

As a part of a programme that will help minorities most at risk because of sexuality, gender and religion, a group of 29 are first to be resettled. The group includes gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual Afghans.

The group has been rescued from Taliban persecution.

The government said that the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme would prioritise people who have helped the UK’s efforts in Afghanistan and stood up for values such as democracy, women’s rights, freedom of speech and the rule of law.

NHS to prescribe E-cigarettes soon To help people in quitting smoking, the NHS tiveness can be prescribed while much better might soon prescribe electronic cigarettes, ones cannot.” the government has announced.

Sajid Javid, the health and social care secretary, said: “Opening the door to a licensed If this move gets greenlit, then Britain e-cigar ette prescribed on the NHS has the will be the first country in the world to prepotential to tackle the stark disparities in scribe e-cigarettes licensed as a medical prodsmoking rates across the country, helping uct. “If a product receives MHRA approval, people stop smoking wherever they live and clinicians could then decide on a case by-case whatever their background.” basis whether it would be appropriate to give an e-cigarette prescription to an NHS patient to help them We are grateful to all letter writers for more and more quit smoking,” Times reported. versatile letters well within word limit. Please keep con“This could lead to a situatributing as always. If you are new, then write to tion where tobacco company eRupanjana at rupanjana.dutta@abplgroup.com cigarettes with limited effec-

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6 - 12 November 2021

A week of diplomatic activity

Ruchi Ghanashyam Mrs. Ruchi Ghanashyam is the former High Commissioner of India to the UK. With a career in Indian Foreign Service for over 38 years, she has been posted in many countries including South Africa, Ghana, before arriving in the UK. She was only the second woman High Commissioner to the UK since India’s independence and during her tenure, she witnessed a number of significant developments in the UK-India relations. @RuchiGhanashyam A week of diplomatic activity A week before Diwali, world leaders of the Group of Twenty or G20 member countries, gathered in Rome for the 16th G20 Summit on 30-31 October. India’s Prime Minister led the Indian delegation. Leaders then traveled to Glasgow for the COP26 or the 26th meeting

of the Conference of the Parties, attended by signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The two meetings happened at a time when the world is confronted with the difficult challenges of a global pandemic and climate change. The pandemic disrupted travel and supply chains, while lockdowns severely impacted economic growth, worsening poverty and inequality. Climate change further exacerbates economic inequalities between nations and peoples.

It makes future pandemics more likely. The COP26 summit aimed to bring ‘parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’.

The two important summits helped focus the world’s attention on the most crucial challenges facing humanity today.

G20 is an intergovernmental forum of some of the world’s largest economies from the industrialised and the developing world.

It was founded in 1999 at a time of economic crises in the world and works to address the major challenges facing the global economy, including international financial stability, climate change, mitigation and sustainable development. G20 accounts for over 80 percent of the global GDP, 75 percent of global trade and around two-thirds of the global population. It also accounts for about 80 percent of the emissions of global greenhouse gases.

Former Solicitor General of India Gopal Subramanium joins BIICL as Honorary Fellow The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) announced that it has appointed Gopal Subramanium as an Honorary Fellow.

UK-based Gopal Subramanium holds legal and academic positions in both the UK and India, bringing to BIICL an invaluable perspective on international legal systems, supporting their mission to develop and advance the understanding of international and comparative law globally.

BIICL is an independent international and comparative law institute with over 60 years of experience providing informed, independent and practical legal ideas for global law communities. Its founders include prominent legal figures Lord Denning and Hersch Lauterpacht.

The appointment signals Subramanium’s intentions to further expand his legal, academic, and philanthropic activity in the UK. In 2019, he was elected a Foundation Fellow at Somerville College, University of Oxford. Then, in October 2021, Subramanium was inducted into the Chancellor’s Court of Benefactors by Lord Patten of Barnes.

Subramanium also founded his own multi-disciplinary study centre that provides vital research into mental health illnesses.

Subramanium has a distinguished legal career spanning over 40 years. He is a Senior Advocate at the Indian Supreme Court, former Solicitor General of India, and a noted scholar on legal philosophy, constitutional law, and human rights theory.

He served as Solicitor General of India from 2009 to 2011, during which period he was also Chairman of the Bar Council of India. From 2005 to 2009, he served as Additional Solicitor General of India.

Subramanium currently heads up his own Delhi-based Chambers, where he regularly appears at the Supreme Court of India and High Court of Delhi. He has acted as Lead Counsel in several path-breaking corporate matters for multinational clients, including Amazon, Google, and Novartis.

Having trained under former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee, Subramanium was designated a Senior Advocate suo-motu by the Supreme Court in 1993, one of the youngest in India’s history to receive the

Gopal Subramanium

designation.

In 1991-1992, Subramanium acted as Counsel to the Judicial Commission headed

by Justice J.S. Verma to inquire into security lapses leading to the assassination of the former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi.

In 1993, he acted as Prosecuting Counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in India in the trial of persons accused of setting off a series of bomb blasts in Mumbai.

In the UK, he is an Associate Member and Arbitrator at 3 Verulam Buildings and Honorary Master of the Bench of The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn. Gopal Subramanium said: “I am delighted to join such a prestigious international legal institution. BIICL is at the forefront of understanding contemporary issues relating to international and comparative law, and I look forward to supporting their research and education projects in any way I can.”

Professor Spyros Maniatis, Director of BIICL, said: “I am delighted to welcome Gopal to BIICL. We are already discussing a number of exciting initiatives as we seek to work together to engage with students, academics, practitioners and policy makers based in or focused on India. These are such positive developments in challenging times.”

World leaders tossing coins in the wishing fountain at G20.

Given the size and strategic importance of G20 member countries, they are best placed to try and work out the way forward for long term global economic growth.

They are also in a position to help lay the foundation of resilient, sustainable and green development plans. An important outcome of this G20 is the agreement on a 15% global minimum tax, which would require multinationals to pay taxes in the countries of operation.

While making pledges on climate, there were no commitments made.

The UN Secretary General, Antonio Gueterres, tweeted to welcome the G20's recommitment to global solutions, but said that he was leaving Rome with hopes unfulfilled, but not buried. “Onwards to COP26 in Glasgow to keep the goal of 1.5 degrees alive and to implement promises on finance and adaptation for people & planet”.

India has been underlining the need for effective global governance, reformed multilateralism and an inclusive and sustainable recovery from Covid-19. At the G20 meeting on Afghanistan, India highlighted the need for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan ahead of the looming winter, as around 1 million children could face starvation in the days to come. India also emphasised that Taliban ensure that

Afghanistan is not used for terrorism against other countries.

India’s role as a positive contributor to the global fight against Covid-19 came to the fore as India is preparing to produce more than 5 billion vaccines next year. This will make a vital contribution to the global vaccination efforts to defeat the pandemic.

India also proposed mutual recognition of vaccine certification which will facilitate international travel.

India has performed well on its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). There’s been an enormous push for renewable energy in India. Given India’s large size and population, and the need to fulfil the development aspirations of millions of people living in a developing country that has not been a cause of climate change, India emphasises on the need for developed countries to fully implement their commitments, especially those related to financing and technology. Developing countries need this support to be able to combat climate change. It is time for climate justice.

At Glasgow COP26, PM Modi made ambitious announcements, including achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070, reaching non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW, meeting 50 percent of India’s energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030, and that India would make a one billion-tonne reduction in projected emissions from now until 2030.

We are once again at Diwali time. I am reminded that last year on Diwali I wrote the first column for Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar, UK. I was then unsure if I would persevere, never having written a column before. One year later, I am more sanguine about it. Thanks to the readers of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar, UK, for indulging me!

On this note, I conclude by wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous Diwali. May this festive season bring victory over the evil pandemic.

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SCRUTATOR’S Headmaster dangles kid from balcony as punishment After a photograph of a class two student being held upside down from the first floor balcony of his school allegedly by the headmaster in Ahraura area in UP’s Mirzapur district went viral, the local police lodged an FIR and apprehended the accused for interrogation. According to reports, the seven-year-old boy, Shivam (name changed), studies in class 2 at a junior high school in Dih Mohal locality. He went out of the school campus to have ‘golgappa.’ His act of “indiscipline” irked headmaster Manoj Vishwakarma, who allegedly held Shivam by his leg held him upside down from the first-floor balcony as a punishment. Someone clicked a photo and posted it on social media. The terrified boy narrated the ordeal to his father Ranjeet Yadav after returning home. On the direction of district magistrate Praveen Kumar Laxkar, the boy’s father lodged an FIR under RTE Act. District basic shiksha adhikari Gautam Prasad said that action has been initiated against the accused. However, the headmaster admitted to his 'misconduct' and said that he had apologised to the boy’s parents for his act. (Agency) Successful flight-test of LR bomb by IAF, DRDO An indigenouslydeveloped long-range bomb (LRB) was successfully flighttested from a Sukhoi30MKI fighter jet by DRDO and IAF. While DRDO did not specify the LRB’s exact range, this class of weapon is designed to hit targets around 100-km away. “The LRB, after release from the fighter, was guided to a landbased target at a long range with accuracy within specified limits. All the mission objectives were successfully met,” said a DRDO official. “The flight of the bomb and the performance was monitored by a number of range sensors including electro-optical tracking systems, telemetry and radar deployed by the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha,” he added. The LRB has been designed and developed by the Research Centre Imarat (RCI), a DRDO laboratory at Hyderabad in coordination with other laboratories. Defence minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO, IAF and other teams associated with LRB’s successful flight-trial, stating that it will prove to be a force multiplier for the Indian armed forces.

(Agency) E-rickshaw driver gets £347,000 tax notice A 40-year-old e-rickshaw driver in Mathura claimed that he received a notice from the income tax department directing him to pay tax of £347,000 for his annual turnover of £4.34 million in the 2018-19 financial year.

Pratap Singh lodged a police complaint. During investigation, the police found that a Delhi-based firm is registered against Pratap Singh’s PAN number. In his police complaint, Pratap Singh stated that someone might have stolen his identity. “I have been driving an e-rickshaw for the past four years and earn Rs 400-500 a day, which is barely sufficient to feed five family members. I can’t even think of such a huge amount in my dreams,” said a shocked Singh. Singh said he had received a call from the income tax department asking him to appear in its office. “When I reached there, they served me the tax notice of £347,000,” he said. When he told I-T officials about his work profile, they advised him to lodge a police complaint as someone had taken a GST number on his name to run a business.

The annual turnover of the business was £4.34 million in 2018-19, and on the basis of it, the tax amount of £347,000 was initiated against the given PAN number, which was registered in Pratap Singh’s name. (Agency) Elevated railway lines in Gir sanctuary?

The Gujarat forest department is looking at the option to set up elevated railway lines passing through Gir Wildlife Sanctuary that is home to Asiatic lions. The proposal comes after the railways submitted in the Gujarat high court recently that it has shelved plans to upgrade the existing railway tracks in the sanctuary. The proposed project is on the lines of Pench Tiger Reserve running between Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra

where an elevated stretch helps protect animals around National Highway 44. The project to elevate the14-km long railway line from Sasan to Kachiya cutting through the heart of the Gir sanctuary is in the initial stage. The state forest department held talks with the railways, the official said. The railways has been asked to work out the financial aspects of the project. It will be then taken at the Gujarat government level for further discussion before taking a final call. “If building elevated tracks in Gir sanctuary proves cost effective, we may also consider elevating all existing railway lines running through periphery and eco-sensitive zones of the lion habitat that are in need of upgradation,” said another forest department official. (The Times of India) Liquor is offered to ‘cure’ alcoholics You may have heard that diamond cuts diamond, but have you heard of alcohol beating alcohol? In Lord Panchia Dada temple in Ghaghretia village in Limdi taluka of Surendragar district, devotees come to offer liquor to the deity, in hope to help their loved one overcome alcohol addiction! Though Gujarat has been a dry state since formation in 1960, the temple located outside the temple of Goddess Moma Maa gets visitors every day. Many of them come from states like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. While some offer country liquor, others bring IMFL. “Recently, a person from Mumbai brought bottles of wine to offer to the deity,” said Manu Chauhan, chairman of village’s Nyay Samiti. Village sarpanch Shamat Bharwad says, “Our village is famous for the miracles worked by Panchia Dada. Visitors, not just from other district but other states, who want their families to quit liquor addiction come here.” (The Times of India) Banni buffalo calf born through IVF procedure Gir Somnath recently reported the successful birth of India's first ‘Banni’ breed of buffalo through IVF technology.

This follows the birth of India's first batch of 'Murrah' breed of buffalo that underwent IVF (in vitro fertilisation) at a farm near Pune last year. The success will help in improving cattle wealth of the water deficient region. Unlike common breeds of India such as 'Murrah' or 'Jaffarabadi', the 'Banni' breed is considered climate resilient. Such buffaloes can survive harsh climatic conditions including water scarcity. “This first IVF 'Banni' calf is born out of six 'Banni' IVF pregnancies established at the doorsteps of a farmer, Vinay L Wala of Sushila Agro farms, located at Dhanej in Somnath district of Gujarat,” said animal husbandry & dairying ministry in a statement.

It said Ovum Pick-Up (OPU) and aspiration processes for the IVF of Banni buffaloes were planned in December last year. “Embryo transfer (ET) of 15 embryos resulted in six 'Banni' pregnancies (40% pregnancy rate). Of these, the very first IVF 'Banni' calf was born last week. This is the first in India,” said the ministry. The result shows the success of the use of IVF technology for multiplication of high yielding and climate resilient indigenous breeds of cattle and buffaloes in India. (Agency) She’s on tour to boost women’s mobility Telangana-based NGO Moving Women has organised

a 11,111 km motorcycle expedition covering almost the nation’s entire boundary. The tour is aimed at raising awareness about gender inclusion in sustainable mobility.

Moving Women founder Jai Bharathi started off from Hyderabad and has travelled through Chennai, Kochi, Goa, Pune, Mumbai, Surat and Statue of Unity on the expedition, called ‘Moving Boundaries Tour’. She said she met a lot of women drivers on the journey thus far, some of whose experiences were very inspirational. The tour is supported by Shell Foundation and FDCO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of UK government). They have supported the expedition because the group itself has also been trying to make the mobility sector accessible to more women. It has plans to assemble a consortium of organisations working towards enabling women in mobility. Bharathi said her experience in Chennai stood out most in the entire campaign. The city has over 200 women auto drivers. These women changed roles during the pandemic to become Covid ambulance drivers with a month’s training of driving bigger vehicles.

(Agency) Padma Shri for Kanodia brothers Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel said that late actors Mahesh and Naresh Kanodia - a popular duo of Gujarati filmmusic world will be posthumously awarded the Padma Shri by the President on November 9. On their first death anniversary, a musical programme “Mahesh-Naresh Smritina Satvare” was organized in Ahmedabad. The CM, who attended the event, paid his tributes, saying that the loss of the Kanodia brothers is being felt by all. He recollected the days when he was in college and songs of the Kanodia brothers were very popular. Speaker of Gujarat legislative assembly Nimaben Acharya, education minister Jitu Vaghani, Ahmedabad mayor Kirit Parmar and several others were present in the function. (The Times of India) SC refuses to close bar near temple Mere proximity of a bar to a place of worship, if the statutorily prescribed distance of 100 metres is maintained between the two, is no ground for shutting the watering hole, the Supreme Court said on Friday, observing while some want to pray, others may want to have a drink. It was hearing a petitioner appealing against a Madras HC decision refusing to shut or relocate Jothy Bar, 114.5m from the entrance of Puducherry Throwbathiammam Temple. Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Nandkumar told the apex court: “Even if the bar is not closed down, it can be relocated in deference to the public sentiments.” He told a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and B V Nagarathna that because of the small distance between the bar and the temple, many people get drunk and come to the temple, creating ruckus and disturb rituals and festivals. Chandrachud said, “We do not want to hurt religious sentiments of the devotees.

But, once the statutory distance between the two is maintained, there is little the courts can do legally. Why should we interfere with the high court decision?” When Nandkumar yet again argued the nuisance created at the temple by those getting drunk at the bar, Nagarathna said, “Even if the bar is at 500 metres or 1,000 metres away, people who take drinks and then want to visit temple could also create the same kind of nuisance.” (Agency)

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Crowdfunding family raises more than £150k in three days for life-extending treatment A desperate family in a race against time to save a young father from a terminal illness has raised tens of thousands of pounds in just a few days to help fund life-extending treatment.

When civil engineer Aman Sumal, of Ruislip in West London, was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) at the start of this year, his son, Rajan, was less than a year old.

With his condition fast deteriorating and no more treatment options available on the NHS, his oncologist from Charing Cross Hospital, in London, has recommended starting a combination of two experimental drugs, both of which will need to be privately funded.

In a desperate attempt to raise the cash needed, this week Aman’s family launched a fundraising page

Aman Sumal with his family

on crowdfunding site GoFundMe, with more than £75,000 donated in the first 24 hours alone and the current total exceeding £153,000.

Aman’s symptoms started in August 2020 when he had a seizure and began suffering headaches, but he was given antiseizure medication and referred for three-monthly scans for what was initially thought to be a lowgrade brain tumour.

The 36-year-old suffered another seizure in January and was scheduled for brain surgery after an MRI showed areas of concern.

COVID-19 restrictions prevented his wife, Jasdip, from being able to join him in the hospital, forcing Aman to undergo surgery alone. A biopsy of his tumour revealed the severity of his disease with Aman given a prognosis of 12 to 14 months and put on a course of

chemotherapy and intensive radiotherapy.

His family continued to search for alternative treatments and privately-funded a protocol by a naturopath in Australia, which included a programme of natural supplements and repurposed drugs. It also sent a sample of his tumour to CeGaT, a gene analysis company in Germany, for DNA sequencing to find out if targeted medication or a personalised vaccine could help.

It is hoped the money being raised this week will enable Aman to start taking intravenous peptide vaccines from CeGaT, which have been specifically formulated for him, and pay for private immunotherapy treatment.

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet his-

torically just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.

Brain Tumour Research funds sustainable research at dedicated centres in the UK. It also campaigns for the Government and the larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours in order to speed up new treatments for patients and, ultimately, to find a cure. The charity is calling for a national annual spend of £35 million in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia and is also campaigning for greater repurposing of drugs.

To help Aman’s family raise the funds it needs, visit www.gofundme.com and search for Anoop Sumal.

NHS doctors taking early retirement tripled in the last decade The number of NHS doctors taking early retirement has tripled in the last decade and they are refusing extra work to avoid devastating tax bills due to “flawed and unfair” pension rules, experts have warned.

More than 50,000 NHS staff quit the health service’s pension scheme last year. It is imperative to note that the NHS has a backlog of 5.7 million patients waiting for non-emergency treatments.

“Any growth in salary can

translate into a large perceived growth in that year's pension contribution, exceeding the pensions annual allowance, therefore incurring tax bills,” Telegraph reported.

Most workers can save £40,000 a year into a pension tax free, but this tapers down to just £4,000 for high earners.

Breaching this limit – unavoidable for doctors as a proportion of their earnings is put into a final salary scheme – triggers a

School days could get longer Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has hinted that school days could get longer.

Praising "excellent examples" of teachers who are able to engage kids beyond 6.5 hours, Zahawai is looking at expanding it.

According to The Sun, extending the school day has been proposed as a way to help pupils catch up after missing lessons during lockdown.

There is fear that students will lag behind for the time that went by during the

lockdown.

Mr Zahawi said, "There are some excellent examples... of a longer school day which I'm going to look at.

The average school day now is 6.5 hours and I would like to see everybody move towards that average." He also said that the "priority" is to help students catch up and that £5billion will be spent to “bring them up to speed”.

What is the impact of stillbirth on women?

A landmark study recently revealed that thousands of babies in England are being born prematurely, smaller than expected or stillborn because of “alarming” and “devastating” socioeconomic and racial inequalities across the country.

However, little is known about the mental health impact and side effects it has on both mothers and babies.

According to the Guardian, a research involving more than 1m births suggests socioeconomic inequalities account for a quarter of all stillbirths, a fifth of preterm births, and a third of cases of foetal growth restriction (FGR), a condition in which babies are smaller than expected for their gestational age.

The Lancet also published that one in 10 stillbirths and almost one in five FGR cases are due to racial inequalities.

National

Maternity and Perinatal Audit, analysed 1,155,981 birth records between April 2015 and March 2017 in NHS hospitals in England. The analysis estimates that 24% of stillbirths, 19% of preterm births, and 31% of FGR cases were attributed to socioeconomic inequality and would not have occurred if all women had the same risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes as women in the least-deprived group.

Adjusting for ethnicity, maternal smoking and body mass index (BMI) substantially reduced these inequalities. Pregnancy complications disproportionately affected Black and minorityethnic women: 12% of all stillbirths, 1% of preterm births, and 17% of FGR cases were attributed to ethnic inequality.

Half of stillbirths (53.5%) and seven in 10 FGR cases (71.7%) among south Asian women living in the most deprived fifth of neighbourhoods in England could be avoidable if they had the same risks as white women in the most affluent fifth, the study suggests.

This was similarly the case for nearly two-thirds of stillbirths (63.7%) and half of FGR cases (55%) among Black women from the most deprived neighbourhoods.

Reports suggest that the NHS has set a target of halving stillbirth and neonatal death rates and reducing levels of preterm birth by 25% by 2025.

However, the current plans in place may not be enough to reduce disparities in birth outcomes at a national level.

tax bill.

Doctors are also particularly at risk of breaching the lifetime an allowance, upper limit on how much you can save into your pension tax free.

The report published in Telegraph also stated that more

than 400 doctors have unnecessarily paid £11m in lifetime allowance charges, according to estimates from Quilter.

But more than 400 doctors who qualified for that protection did not apply for it and needlessly paid more in tax.

The NHS Business Services Authority, has come forward to contact those affected and alert them to the fact that they could still apply for the protection retrospectively.

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Climate change: Developing versus Developed countries W

Shefali Saxena

While world leaders assembled in Glasgow to participate in the COP26 climate summit, Ulka Kelkar, Director - Climate, World Resources Institute (WRI), India exclusively spoke to Asian Voice about the impact of climate change on the UK-India partnership and the role of both developing and developed countries in meeting climate change goals. hat magnitude of capital investment would it take for the UK-India combined partnership to fight climate change?

India has just announced strong renewable energy targets for 2030 and a net zero target for 2070. Meeting these targets will require massive investments in renewable energy, battery storage, and green hydrogen. This will require additional investments of hundreds of billions of dollars in the next 10-15 years and trillions of dollars over the next few decades. s it wise to put the onus on developing countries to tackle their climate crisis, while they continue to become dumpyards and puppets for the developed countries that contribute more to changing global climate crisis?

Developing countries like India have much to lose from climate change and much to gain from adopting a climate-friendly path to development. While India’s past emissions have been very low, and present emissions per person continue to

W

I

Ulka Kelkar

be well below the world average, its future emissions are projected to grow as it builds its energy and urban infrastructure. The choice now is to build cleaner rather than locking in to high carbon assets.

For least developed countries that are already facing the brunt of climate disasters, it is very important to urgently scale up finance to adapt to climate impacts. ow will COP 26 change the course of the IndiaUK partnership on climate change? Where can the two collaborate, countries keeping in mind that both nations have to undergo a complete socio-economic recovery amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic?

While the UK needs to decarbonize its existing infrastructure, India needs to build new green infrastructure. Both countries can collaborate to scale up new technologies and make them more affordable – these include renewable energy, especially offshore wind, electric mobility, and energy storage. On the adaptation side, collaboration on insurance, weather forecasting, and climate services will be invaluable.

H

hat does the data say about the developed versus developing countries with respect to climate change? Who fares better in the climate change report card?

Developed countries have been responsible for the bulk of past emissions that have led to more than 1 degree Celsius of warming already. Developing country emissions are low but growing, particularly from emerging economies like India. For developing countries, climate change is one of many challenges and stresses, and they need to fight it while also trying to lift millions out of poverty and provide them clean water, nutrition, food, affordable housing, public transport, and decent jobs.

So it is not fair or easy to compare developed and developing countries with respect to climate change.

What we need is solidarity and collective action. hat are the top concerns related to climate change for the Indo-Pacific region and how much time do we have until another big blow hits us?

This region is highly vulnerable to climate change, particularly to heat stress, sea level rise, erratic rainfall, and storms. The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned us that climate change could make extreme weather events more frequent or intense, and also lead to recurring or compound extremes that test the limits of our coping capacity.

W

Modi individually meets UK’s Indian diaspora at COP26 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the most of his visit to Glasgow during COP26. He individually met Indians living in the UK and discussed how the two countries need to work collaboratively in order to meet the goals set to combat climate change.

Samir Desai, Secretary of Edinburgh Hindu Mandir & Cultural Centre met PM Modi in person at Glasgow during COP26. Sharing his experience with Asian Voice, Mr Desai said, “I was delighted to meet our beloved Prime minister, Narendra Modi. When I spoke to him, I found an instant connection. As if I am speaking to my elder family member. We just loved Modi ji. The Indian diaspora is pleased that Modi ji has visited Scotland for the first time. Even though we don’t live in India, we have hopes, aspirations and dreams for the country and in Modi we see

Samir Desai with Narendra Modi

a leader to take India to greater heights. India made fantastic progress in all sectors in the leadership of Modi ji. We are grateful to have a leader like Modi ji.

“Modi ji came to Scotland to address COP26.

Modi ji has reiterated India's commitment to closely work with the UK. As a true world leader, Modi ji has set net zero target by 2070 for India. India stood out among top emitters, including the U.S. and China. He knows the challenges but is determined to face them head on and India will

achieve the target.”

Suman Vohra, a founding member of Edinburgh Hindu Mandir & Cultural Center since 1980 told the newsweekly that it was a great honour & a wonderful experience to meet the

Suman Vohra with Narendra Modi

Indian prime minister. “We were asked to introduce ourselves individually to Modi ji , and each one was photographed with him .

After that he has mentioned that we need to work together to bring about climate change. There were around 30 people in that room,” Suman told us.

Can Social Entrepreneurship and CSR be the panacea for ending global poverty?

Chairman of the Randal Charitable Foundation, Dr Nik Kotecha OBE, reflects on whether the modern trends of social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility can address the scourge of world poverty.

Dr Nik Kotecha OBE For many millions of people, each day can be a struggle for survival, as a lack of opportunity, resources and infrastructure often leaves them hungry, without clean water and unable to work for a living.

The United Nations reports that 10 percent of the world’s population, or 734 million people, live on less than $1.90 a day.

Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are expected to see the largest increases in extreme poverty, with an additional 32 million and 26 million people, respectively, living below the international poverty line, as a result of the pandemic.

Worse still, the cycle of deprivation looks set to escalate, as one out of five children live in extreme poverty with the negative effects of poverty and deprivation in the early years having ramifications that often lasts throughout their lifetime.

The UN’s International Day of Poverty Eradication took place this autumn and this year had a theme of ‘Building Forward Together’ to end persistent poverty. But after decades of work, the future still looks very challenging for so many.

I have experienced extreme poverty myself when I came to the UK as a child refugee at a very young age. Since then I have been fortunate enough to have built a number of successful businesses, which have been able to ‘give back’, as part of wider corporate social responsibility programs focused on being a good corporate citizen.

Looking back, I am very grateful for the support my family and I received which presented me with opportunities that much of the developing world will never experience. These opportunities allow people to flourish and grow out of poverty, but the disparity between their availability in the rich west and poor lower-middleincome countries are profound.

In 2017, I established the Randal Charitable Foundation, which has provided significant grant funding to many charities that are working on the ground with communities to lift them out of poverty in a sustainable way. The ambition for the Foundation is to save 1 Million lives in the UK and Globally A key part of this work is providing infrastructure to grow crops or pump their own water, as well as providing people with the tools, skills and training. Our mission is to directly save lives, which we’re able to achieve by supporting charities looking to establish social enterprises within communities.

Establishing this type of social entrepreneurship is important because there is very little state aid. I am reminded of the analogy of providing people with fish to eat, but if they could be given a fishing rod to catch their own fish, then they would never need more fish providing again. So if we can provide communities with the tools and resources to earn a living and support their families, then the cycle of poverty begins to be broken.

Social enterprises can be set up by charities, or by companies based all over the world, which have built their entire business models around improving community healthcare, education, infrastructure or

alleviating poverty.

This is social entrepreneurship in action, where the outcomes of the entrepreneur’s work are not measured entirely by profits and revenues, but also by generating a sustainable ‘return for society’.

On the flip side, one could argue that this type of support has been around for decades in the form of corporate-socialresponsibility where businesses and entrepreneurs seek to create a positive social impact through their existing practices.

Both clearly have an important role to play but there is a clear difference in that social entrepreneurship is very much proactive, whereas CSR is invariably reactive in its approach to delivering social change.

Social entrepreneurship also builds ‘doing good’ into a permanent fixture of their business model and foundations, whereas CSR is often connected to amplifying the mission, values and brand of the company they represent through their charitable endeavours.

When looking at the proactive and reactive approaches of the two philanthropic movements, perhaps it’s important to also focus on a third factor, which sows them all together and undoubtedly enhances the social impact – Collaborations.

I have seen first hand through my work with the foundation and business community how collaborations between the Public, Private and Charitable sectors help foster sustainable entrepreneurship, which directly responds to poverty alleviation within communities.

These collaborations often benefit the whole community, as well as foster new social entrepreneurs, which overall reduces poverty and uplifts both the individuals and their communities.

So to come back to our question; can social entrepreneurship and CSR be the panacea for ending global poverty? The answer is yes; as long as they are supported by a network of collaborations and focused on providing sustainable ways for communities to do it themselves, rather than having to rely on the charity of others.

Perhaps the words ‘ending global poverty’ are too ambitious, but businesses, social enterprises and their partners must have this level of ambition to truly turn the tide.

What’s clear is that where it’s done well, it works, which has already freed thousands of communities from the cycle of poverty; not just today but for generations to come.

Let’s continue this by working together to achieve the International Day of Poverty Eradication’s aim of ‘Building Forward Together’.

Dr Nik Kotecha OBE is the Chairman of the Randal Charitable Foundation and the Founder and Chairman of Morningside Pharmaceuticals. He has also been named as one of LDC’s 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders 2021 and is a 2021 EY Entrepreneur Regional Champion.

For more information on the Randal Charitable Foundation visit here: www.randalfoundation.org.uk

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COMMUNITY REJOICES PM MODI’S VISIT TO THE UK Continued from page 1

The Prime Minister started his morning on Monday by meeting around 45 members of Indian diaspora, academics, Indologists as well as the Earthshot prize winner Vidyut Mohan and finalist Vinisha Umashankar. Vidyut is the inventor of Takachar, which is essentially to do with utilising leftovers of paddy field stubbles that are left in fields. Vinisha was one of the finalists who invented a solar powered pressing iron, which is very common in India.

PM Modi was gifted with a bust that looked like his younger self, by Prof Nadey Hakim, who is a British Lebanese surgeon and travelled from London to meet the Prime Minister.

Just before the Prime Minister left for New Delhi, the Indian diaspora and women from Inspiring Indian Women, were at Glasgow to send off Mr Modi and as we went to press they were due to present the Prime Minister with a charcoal sketch by Rajashree Nair Shankar from Slough. The diaspora came in buses and were accompanied with people in tricolour clothes, chanting Modi’s name in jubilation and glory along with musical instruments such as dhol to give a traditional send off to the PM. Members of Overseas Friends of BJP were also present.

Bilateral relationship b/w UKIndia As the COP26 leadership summit formally started, with 100 leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted by Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

During the inauguration of the summit, PM Johnson said, “Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change.

“It’s one minute to midnight and we need to act now.

“If we don’t get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow.

“We have to move from talk and debate and discussion to concerted, real-world action on coal, cars, cash and trees.

“Not more hopes and targets and aspirations, valuable though they are, but clear commitments and concrete timetables for change.

“We need to get real about climate change and the world needs to know when that’s going to happen.”

The first day also included a bilateral meeting with PM Johnson- the first one in two years.

India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, at a later press conference said, “The Prime Minister reiterated India's commitment to closely work with the UK on climate finance, technology, innovations and adaptation including green hydrogen, renewables, clean technology, and joint initiatives under the International Solar Alliance and Coalition for Disaster Resilient infrastructure.

Both these international organisations have very prominent UK involvement. The two Prime Ministers reviewed the roadmap for planning the 2030 priorities between India and UK in areas like trade, economy, people to people ties, health, defence and security.”

At the bilateral, the two Prime Ministers also discussed issues of

Johnson to visit India at an early opportunity. It is not yet clear if Mr Johnson would be India’s Republic Day guest.

The COP26 Agenda At COP26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also attended the side event, which is Prof Nadey Hakim presenting a bust to PM Modi called 'Action and solidarity-The critsecurity, counter-terrorism and ical decade'. This is hosted by the extradition. The Foreign Secretary UK presidency of COP26. In his added, “The meeting was short, remarks, the Prime Minister spoke but it did allow exchanges on conabout the criticality of climate cerns that both our countries have on increasing radicalism. We're seeing in certain fringe groups that seem to be speaking out on issues that they have no legitimate right to do so and without clearly, without traction of any kind, but nonetheless causing certain level

Dhol being played for Modi's send off

da, which he called the five ‘amrit tattva’ (nectar elements), while delivering the ‘National Statement’ at the COP26 conference, Modi said, “In the midst of this global brainstorming on climate change, on behalf of India, I would like to present five nectar elements, Panchamrit, to deal with this challenge.”

Indian diaspora who visited PM Modi on Monday

Rajashree's gift to the Prime Minister

of disequilibrium and concern in both our countries. Prime Minister Johnson, agreed that some of these groups need to be reined in and that clearly steps have to be taken to see how such activity which under no means is democratic, or constitutional should be or could be used to address these recent incidents.

“The issue of extradition cases is important. The two Prime Ministers agreed that a number of these specific issues would be discussed between our National Security Advisors who are going to meet in London on 3 November.

So they would go into detail on all of these issues that are important to the Consular and Security and other aspects of our relationship.”

Speaking on Free Trade Agreement (FTA), he added, “It would also be recalled that at the last summit, the two countries elevated our relationship to a comprehensive, strategic partnership and both sides expressed satisfaction on the progress in delivering enhanced trade partnerships, including steps taken to commence towards the launch of FTA negotiations. I think both sides also felt that there should be some attention given to the earliest conclusion possible of this important trade-related partnership between our two countries.

“There was a discussion in regional and global issues, including Afghanistan, supply chain resilience in post-Covid global economic recovery.”

Prime Minister Modi reiterated his invitation to Prime Minister

adaptation in development policy, the importance of traditional practices and the need for Global support for adaptation.

The highlight of the day was the Prime Minister's national statement on COP26.

Foreign Secretary Shringla said, “India will reduce its projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tons from now until 2030.

“For the first time, India has spoken about reaching ‘Net Zero’ by the year 2070.

“The Prime Minister, of course, highlighted the need for greater ambition on climate finance and technology. He felt that given the sort of commitments that were there, climate financing to the extent of a trillion dollars would be required. He did say that while developing countries, he spoke on behalf of the developing world when he said that there was pressure on the developing world to increase and enhance their commitments.

There should be similar pressure on developed countries to enhance their financial contributions, that would ensure that our target of 1.5 degrees Celsius is met.”

Presenting his five-point agen-

Referring to COP26 as ‘global brainstorming’ for climate change policies, Modi said, “India will cut down its net projected carbon emission by 1 billion tonne from now until 2030. Fourth, by 2030, India will bring down the carbon intensity of its economy by more than 45%. Fifth, by 2070 India will achieve the target of 'net zero'” However, this statement was critiqued by a UK official involved in overseeing COP26, who reportedly said that India's 2070 target was “an interesting political choice”, and that they found it “quite curious” India had opted for a date that put them 10 years behind China, explaining that they would ordinarily want to be seen as “less competitive” than their economic rival.

Despite the criticism, it is important to note that India is the second largest populated country in the world, and this statement by its prime minister may have been a well calculated move.

On Tuesday there was a launch of the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States initiative and Accelerating Clean Technology Innovation and Deployment. The India led inter-

national solar alliance launched a new Green Grids initiative in partnership with the UK. He also held a series of bilateral meetings with leaders of Israel, Nepal, Ukraine, Japan, and entrepreneur Bill Gates.

Infrastructure for Resilient Island States Prime Minister Modi also said that the launch of 'Infrastructure for Resilient Island States' - IRIS, gives a new hope, a new confidence. It gives the satisfaction of doing something for the most vulnerable countries. “Through IRIS, it will be easy and faster for SIDS to mobilize technology, finance, and necessary information.

Promotion of quality infrastructure in Small Island States will benefit both lives and livelihoods there,” Modi said.

One Sun One world Laying out a plan through the ‘One Sun, One World and One Grid' solution, the Prime Minister said, “Through a worldwide grid, clean energy can be transmitted anywhere and anytime.”

Indian space research agency ISRO will provide a solar calculator application to the world.

“The 'One Sun, One World and One Grid' solution will not only reduce storage needs, but also enhance viability of solar projects. This creative initiative will not only reduce carbon footprints and energy cost but also open a new avenue for cooperation between different countries and regions.

“I am hopeful that a common and strong global grid can be developed through cooperation between 'One Sun, One World and One Grid' and 'Green Grid' initiatives,” Modi further added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday underlined the need to ensure transparent climate finance as part of important aspects in infrastructure creation during a roundtable event initiated by US President Joe Biden led Build Back Better for the World event.

Recalling that next year would mark 30 years of the establishment of full diplomatic relations between India and Israel, Prime Minister Modi extended an invitation to Israeli PM Naftali Bennett to visit India. PM Modi also met Prime Minister of Nepal, Sher Bahadur Deuba, India and met the President of Ukraine H.E. Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of COP26.

Read about Modi's visit to G20 on P22.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations greet Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, on arrival to COP26 World Leaders Summit of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference at the SEC, Glasgow.

Photograph: Karwai Tang/ UK Government

16 FESTIVAL

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Lord Shree Jagannatha Mahaprabhu temple UK The Shree Jagannatha Society (SJS), UK was set up with an objective of building a grand temple to serve Lord Shree Jagannatha Mahaprabhu in or around London. This has been a long-standing desire of all Jagannatha devotees in the United Kingdom. The society has been working tirelessly to enlist members and identify an appropriate site for the construction of the temple. In the meantime, they are establishing a temporary abode for the Lord at the Shree Ram Mandir in Southall, London.

The idols of Lord Shree Jagannath, Devi Subhadra and Lord Balabhadra have arrived in London after making the long journey from Puri. The SJS are celebrating the consecration and installations of the deities during the auspicious Diwali week, commencing on the 1st till the 3rd of November. The rituals will be performed by local priests under the guidance

First day of Lord Shree Jagannatha Mahaprabhu Prana Pratistha in London

of eminent priests by video link, from Puri. These sacred rituals will culminate with the Prana Pratistha on the 3rd of November. The occasion will be graced by his holy highness Shri Mohanji, an eminent philanthropist and humanitarian and Guruji Dr Chandra Bhan Satpathy, a noted scholar, spiritual thinker and founder chairman of Shiridi Sai Global foundation. This will be followed by a grand public event planned for the 6th of November, amidst invited esteemed guests, members and devotees.

It is expected that a large number of devotees will be attending the 4 days long ceremonies, offering their prayers and enjoying the sacred prasad.

The programme will include Spiritual recitals, kirtans and cultural events. Many viewers from India and around the world, have expressed their interest to watch the celebrations online.

Cross-party Diwali celebrations in the Speaker’s House Members of the Hindu community from across the UK joined Members of Parliament and the Speaker of the House of Commons to celebrate the festival of Diwali in the Speaker’s House. The crossparty event, which was co-hosted by Navendu Mishra MP, Shailesh Vara MP and Virendra Sharma MP alongside Mr Speaker, the Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP, is the first of its kind to take place under Hoyle’s speakership.

To mark the festival, attendees in the Speaker’s State Rooms were joined by a Hindu priest who lit a traditional lamp - a key part of the festival, symbolising the triumph of good over evil. The MPs and Peers were joined by key figures from the Hindu community. The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, was unable to attend as he was taking part in COP26 in

Glasgow but a Diwali message from him was read out by Mr Vara. Similarly, Mr Mishra read out a message from the Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP, the Leader of the Opposition, who is self-isolating as he has Covid-19. Mr Speaker, the Rt Hon Lindsay Hoyle MP has said: “My warm greetings to everyone who will be celebrating the festival of Diwali this year – it is an absolute honour to mark the occasion in Speaker’s House. “It is so important that we recognise and join in the celebration of this Festival of Lights with our parliamentary community and friends with the merriment and gladness that it brings.”

Navendu Mishra MP commented: “It was a pleasure to co-host the first Diwali event held under the Rt Hon Lindsay Hoyle MP’s speakership in the Speaker’s House in the House of Commons. I hope this will be

Maha Kali Puja at Hindu Pragati Mandir Rupanjana Dutta After Durga puja celebrations, UK Bengalis are getting ready to celebrate Kali Puja, as the heavy rain batters the country. Hindu Pragati Sangha has organised a Maha Kali Puja at Hindu Pragati Mandir on Thursday 4 November from 5-8pm in East London.

London Kalibari will be doing their puja at Harrow Arts Centre in North London on 4th from 7-11pm. Adda launched its first Kali Puja in 2015 and this is the 5th year of celebration after there was no puja in 2020.

Unlike other pujas, Adda’s Kali Puja happens in open ground with a pandal with India-like feeling. This year our main effort has been to make the Puja look like the famous Kali Puja of Barasat. In order to have Adda has done

excellent lighting decoration both inside and outside. Inside the pandal there are beautiful chandeliers and outside the street and trees will be decorated with light to give the similar feeling of Barasat. There will be an elaborate firecracker show as well.

Local diaspora is already showing huge interest in this.

Prosenjit Bhattacharjee from Adda said, “In this Kali Puja food vendor Lovekati will serve Kolkata street food.

ITS Convenient Food Hall will serve Bengali desserts like Dhakai chomchom and nolen gurer payesh made from the jaggery of Jessore, Bangladesh.

“There will be cultural events this year with local Bengali bands performing fusion and unique music.”

a step in raising greater awareness about the festivals Hindu and Sikh communities celebrate. “I am truly grateful to Mr Speaker for understanding the importance of Diwali and allowing us to celebrate this occasion in the State Rooms. The festival celebrates the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance, which truly resonates with the ideals of our Parliament.”

Shailesh Vara MP added: “It’s good that we were able to physically celebrate Diwali again, and especially in the magnificent setting of the Speaker’s State Rooms. Tuesday 2nd November The significance of Diwali, the triumph of good over evil, is as important today as it has been through the ages.

That message of hope extends to triumphing over the dark shadow of the pandemic.

As we slowly emerge from the pandemic,

we must maintain hope and faith that ultimately good will triumph.”

Virendra Sharma MP said: “Co-hosting Diwali, the most important of all the Hindu festivals, in Parliament was an important moment of unity across politics. We have celebrated Diwali in Parliament before, but to hold this in the Speaker's House and the State Apartments was very special indeed.

The dedication and hard work Hindu and Sikh communities have shown this country for hundreds of years, but especially in the last two years, responding to Covid19 has been inspiring. I look forward to further celebrations, and marking this key festival yearly. As the nights grow longer the message of light and of the triumph of good is more important than ever. Happy Diwali.”

The catering for the event was sponsored by SBI UK.

Diwali Charity provides over 2,500 food hampers to struggling families The Diwali Basket Brigade is an annual event organised by The Diwali Foundation, a registered charity. It is a voluntary initiative providing food hampers to vulnerable and socially deprived families from all faiths and backgrounds. The families have been nominated by local charities and community-based organisations and identified as most in need, struggling to feed themselves and their children.

Founder Deepak Parekh started the Diwali Basket Brigade as a way for the community to give back at this auspicious time. Deepak said, “Diwali is a time of celebration and happiness.

Unfortunately, there are many families in our local communities who have little to cheer about, struggle to make ends meet and feel rejected. Diwali Basket Brigade is our small effort to support and spread the message of Diwali - the message of hope, happiness and

giving.”

In 2021 the initiative provided over 2,500 hampers, a major increase on the 340 hampers provided in 2018 when the charity was founded. This year, the hampers also reached families in London and Manchester as well as in Birmingham, where the initiative began.

The special Diwali baskets were funded by voluntary donations from across the community. They included healthy vegetarian food, a Diwali ‘Diya’ candlelight and included helpful hygiene products.

This is all thanks to the generous and kind donations received. Over £30,000 has been raised.

This year the charity has given over 47,000 items of food and essentials, weighing over 15 tonnes, to provide over 35,000 meals to families in need.

The baskets were provided to families by 25 charity and food bank partners on Saturday 30th October 2021, ahead of this year’s Diwali celebrations on Thursday 4 November 2021.

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6 - 12 November 2021

Circular Threads: Your New Home for Preloved South Asian Fashion Sunetra Senior Anoli is the founder of the UK’s first preloved South-Asian fashion platform: Circular Threads.

Launched just this August, the online marketplace has generated widespread ecstatic buzz. The simple yet classy brand allows customers to buy and sell beautiful South Asian clothing that’s previously owned but no less desired. The concept was created when Anoli realised how many people not only wanted to share but also honour their SouthAsian glamour, including the lady herself: “The idea came when searching for the perfect outfit for my brother’s wedding. I found myself darting around the usual ethnic hubs for clothing – Ealing

Road, Green Street. I didn’t know if I was getting value for money and getting stressed out through the process. You want to look your best but without spending unnecessary time and effort. In addition to this, the ensembles you do purchase for special occasions are often heavy and expensive so they tend to accumulate in the closet. It was a feeling shared by lots of friends and people I knew. I wanted to make high-quality trendy pieces easily accessible and constantly worn - thus Circular Threads was born!” *** Highlight pieces from the venture’s digital collection includes “an Qbik designer outfit, Karina, which was a chic champagne pant-sari that looked amazing on both the buyer and the seller. This outfit completely transforms, bringing out the individuality of each person who wears it. The material was hammer satin, with thick net which made the outfit multi-layered and distinct.

Another Founder’s favourite is a white floral number that looked as if it could be worn on Netflix’ British show: Bridgerton.

It has floral embroidery and reminiscent of old English style that can be worn on multiple occasions. However, the inventory has been growing and every piece is unique: each one is actually given its own name.”

Indeed, the versatility demonstrates the especially empowering dimension of South-Asian couture: “Fashion in general gives expression to individuality and our multi-coloured varied outfits epitomise this concept.” Circular Threads enhances cultural heritage, dynamically preserving connection our roots. But “Fashion itself is cyclical: the silk saris our mum and grandmas wore are coming back in. The site reinforces this…”

Sustainability is generally central to Anoli’s entrepreneurial ethos: “we want people to dig deep into their wardrobes and enjoy the act of recycling, rewearing and restyling” and the online age doesn’t make it hard for us to do so. “Lockdown made the digital potential of the idea doubly clear.

Ultimately, we are not here to only circu-

Anoli

late different and beautiful outfits but also provide an education to our community to foster change to more sustainable behaviours. Our social media posts present our preloved pieces, events, as well as listing socially conscious fun ideas you can do at the weekend. But most importantly, we are building a community of like-minded individuals who want to live more sustainably. We want to encourage proactive living around conscious fashion.”

Anoli elaborated: “We welcome the stories behind each design, we like to uncover the types of materials used for garments, fostering investment as well as confidence. We are work-

"We want people to dig deep into their wardrobes and enjoy the act of recycling, rewearing and restyling” ing on devising an Impact scale so that when purchasing an item, buyers can see how much water they’re saving by the litre due to constitution of the outfit materials, and by how much they’re reducing the omission of carbon-dioxide.” This directly challenges the notoriously toxic practice of fast-fashion, from the exploitation of workers for profit to the adverse impact on the environment, reflecting the wider culture of unchecked materialism too. In this way, Circular Threads also exhibits an emerging generation who want to harness tech to increase the positive impact on industries across a variety of sectors. Driven by emotional vibrance, Circular Threads doesn’t just flaunt spectacular pieces, but also a benign philosophy that can constructively reshape the world. “We see Circular Threads as a lifestyle rather than just a fashion destination.” The business encourages people to feel good and gorgeous while doing the same for others and the planet.

Morality, inspiringly, is the transcendent timeless trend.

If you have outfits to sell or are looking for something different for your next wedding or Diwali event, check out the Circular Threads website and follow their socials: Website: https://www.circular-threads.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/circular.threads/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/threadscircular/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThreadsCircular

Starmer tests positive, misses Budget 2021 Sir Keir Starmer found out he was positive after taking a lateral flow test before the Chamber. This is the fifth time the Labour leader has had to be isolated since the start of the pandemic, but it is the first time he has tested positive for Covid-19 virus.

He is understood to be feeling fine.

It was announced just

minutes before PMQs kicked off at 12 pm, that he will not be taking part in PMQs or responding to Rishi Sunak’s budget, as he had tested positive.

Ed Miliband, former labour leader, the shadow of business secretary, stood in for Sir Keir at the dispatch box in Starmer’s absence.

Sister Nivedita’s statue to be installed in Wimbledon Irish teacher, author, social activist, school founder and disciple of Swami Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita’s bronze statue will be reportedly installed in Wimbledon by summer.

Five years ago, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee unveiled a heritage blue plaque at Sister Nivedita’s former Wimbledon home, which is in close proximity to Swami Vivekananda’s house at 35 Woodside.

London-based science teacher of Catholic Boys School, Sarada Basu took the initiative to apply for the heritage plaque. She spoke to the newsweekly about Sister Nivedita’s bronze statue.

Sarada Basu said, “We Sister Nivedita Celebrations UK applied for the permission of a full size bronze statue of a sister Nivedita three years ago to

Sister Nivedita's statue at Great Torrington

the Merton council for Cannizzaro park location.

However, it got outrightly dismissed as many people didn’t know who she was.

Sister Nivedita had made so many contributions to Indian independence and women's education was almost unknown to these people even after the English Heritage blue

plaque in 2017.

“A conservative councillor Mr Najeeb Latif took it forward and fought for us and after a very long question and answer session they had to offer an alternative location which is even better than Cannizzaro park as it’s next to a famous 11-18 girls school called Ricards Lodge school.

“The head mistress is very supportive and became fascinated to know about Sister Nivedita. The location is at Leopold Road and it’s just next to the school.

Wimbledon being the world Tennis hub will now be known as Sister Nivedita and Swami Vivekananda Tirtha too.”

A report published in The Times of India suggests that the funding for this statue may come from the West Bengal Chief Minister.

However, there is no confirmation, yet.

The BEDLAM arts and mental health festival Sampad South Asian Arts & Heritage will be presenting the World Premiere of the brand-new play The Walls Between Us at Birmingham Repertory Theatre on Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th November 2021.

Produced by Sampad, The Walls Between Us has been specially commissioned for The BEDLAM Arts and Mental Health Festival 2021 which aims to raise awareness and get people thinking and talking about mental health through the arts.

The play focuses on the Jamil family and their own experiences during the pandemic.

Rahil, a key worker, decides to self-isolate in his room to protect his elderly mother, Fazeela. Fazeela is struggling with the speed at which lockdown has been enforced and being cut off from her family and friends.

Rahil’s daughter, Malaika, is stuck at home, unable to go back to university. Will the Jamils pull together to help each other out through these difficult times? Or will they allow for the pandemic to push them apart?

Farah Chaudhury

The Walls Between Us, written by Farrah Chaudhry, brings to the stage researched, personal experiences of Covid-19, looking at issues of grief, mental health and how different generations find ways to connect.

Farrah started writing in her teens and since then storytelling has been her passion. Reviewed by the Birmingham Post as a ‘writer to watch’, she has enjoyed several notable achievements and recognition for her work.

Speaking about the play

Farrah said “During the research process, I heard some really inspirational and uplifting stories, but equally some really upsetting stories too. The pandemic has affected people in so many different ways, it was really important for me to pull on the research to show how people have found new ways to connect and support one another and their communities, but also the significant impact on mental health. The Walls Between Us draws on this research and each character, though fictional, has been inspired by real stories.”

The Walls Between Us, directed by Suzanne Gorman, features a dynamic cast including British South Asian Actor Ravneet Sehra, Midlands based Vimal Korpal and Promila BittuSafaya who performed in Sampad’s acclaimed production No Bond So Strong in 2019.

Tickets are priced at £10 (all orders will be subject to a fee of £2.50). and can be booked online www.birmingham-rep.co.uk Suitable for ages 14+.

18 UK

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6 - 12 November 2021

Bad news for the middle class?

Shefali Saxena Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Autumn Budget 2021 has the highest taxes since the 1950s and will see households considerably worse off by 2026, living standards think tank Resolution Foundation has warned. A study showed that tax will reach its highest level as a share of the economy since 1950 by 202627. This is equal to a £3,000 increase per household since Boris Johnson took office as prime minister. It cannot be ruled out that after changes in the universal credit, threequarters of families on the benefit are set to lose more from the £20 cut than they gain from his new measures.

Analysis suggests that to allow households to keep 8p more per pound they earn on the benefit, it would offer a big boost for some households who are able to work, but they will be “overshadowed” by the much larger £6bn cut.

Meanwhile, inflation will increase as weak pay growth will cause real wages to fall next year. The UK’s stagnant living standards “remain the dominant feature of this era” the think tank said.

Critiquing Sunak’s budget, Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation told The Independent, “Higher taxes aren’t a surprise given the UK is combining fiscal conservatism with an ageing society and a slow-growing economy. But it is the end of low tax conservatism, with the tax take rising by £3,000 per household by the middle of this decade.”

Sunak’s “multi-year housing settlement totalling nearly £24billion” was a major highlight of his Autumn Budget 2021. Mr Sunak said this will “meet our commitment to invest 10 billion pounds in new housing and unlock a million new homes.” He continued: “We're also confirming £5billion to remove unsafe cladding from the highest risk buildings, partly funded by the residential property developers’ tax which I can confirm will be levied on developers with profits over £25million at a rate of four percent.” He said: “But we will go further with £640million a year for rough sleeping and homelessness.”

Long Haulers and Households lose A new "ultra-long-haul" rate of air passenger duty of £91 for journeys of more than 5,500 miles will be introduced. The other rates will be £13 for journeys of 0 to 2,000 miles and £87 for those of 2,000 to 5,500 miles. The chancellor has not scrapped the 5pc VAT paid on domestic bills to help families to tackle rising bills. No new money announced to protect leaseholders to protect them from becoming victims of cladding.

Despite all criticism, the Chancellor aims to build a stronger economy for the British people.Delivering the Budget and Spending Review, Rishi Sunak set out a plan to invest in stronger public services, with total departmental spending growing by £150 billion a year in cash terms by 2024-25, a £90 billion real-terms increase, which is the largest realterms increase in overall departmental spending for any Parliament this century.

Strong and innovative public services

In addition to the historic set of spending commitments already announced for the NHS, which mean NHS England’s day-today budget is set to grow by 3.8% on average in real terms each year over the SR21 period, Mr Sunak announced £5.9 billion to tackle the NHS backlog of non-emergency tests and procedures, modernise digital technology and ensure there are at least 100 community diagnostic centres to help people across England get health checks, scans and tests

Anjum Khan

Rita Trehan

closer to their homes.

To support pupils and teachers, an additional £4.7 billion will be invested in the core schools budget in England, over and above the SR19 settlement for schools in 2022-23 – in addition to £1.8 billion of new money for education recovery and catch-up over the next three years. An investment of £11.5 billion will help build up to 180,000 affordable homes – with 65% of the funding for homes outside London.

Levelling Up the UK To deliver on the commitment to level up the whole UK and help ensure people’s opportunities in life are not determined by where they live, today’s announcement includes £5.7 billion for London-style transport settlements in English city regions over five years including Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region and the West Midlands.

The Spending Review confirms £2.6 billion between 2020-2025 for a long-term pipeline of over 50 local roads upgrades, over £5 billion for local roads maintenance; and funding for buses, cycling and walking totalling more than £5 billion in England over the Parliament.

The allocation of the first round of the UK-wide Levelling Up Fund sees £1.7 billion of local investment in local areas, while the launch of the over £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund focussed on funding programmes to help people into jobs and get on in life.

On top of this the first 21 projects will receive funding from the £150 million Community Ownership Fund, helping communities across the UK protect and take ownership of their most treasured local community assets.

The way to level up our country is not to level down London However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has gone on record to say that the government has “taking the capital for granted” and “Without a London recovery, there will be no national economic recovery. It is par-

ticularly disappointing the Chancellor has chosen to not allocate any future funding to Transport for London (TfL). For every £1 invested on the London Underground, 55p is paid to workforces located outside London, with TfL contracts contributing around £6.4bn to the economy overall.”

Speaking to Asian Voice, the London Mayor said, “It's really important for the government to realise that London, as a region, contributes to the treasury, which is about £40billion net more than we take back. So if the government wants a national recovery, they need London, we find that all cylinders. And I'm quite clear, London is the greatest thing in the world but Sadiq Khan can't be complacent. So our ability to create wealth and prosperity in the financial sector, in the legal sector, in the cultural sector, in the tech sector, in life sciences, isn't going to happen by itself. It happens, it's hard work.

And sometimes the government is working with us to make sure we can have a good recovery after the last 18 months caused by the pandemic. Pandemic has caused all challenges to London's economy. We need the government's help in relation to tourism, transport, housing, and infrastructure. The way to level up our country is not to level down London.”

Supporting people and businesses Building on the success of the Plan for Jobs, the Budget and Spending Review will continue supporting people into work with over £6 billion of funding for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over the next three years to help people earn more and gain the right skills.

To boost wages and prospects for all, skills funding will increase by a total over the parliament of £3.8 billion compared to 2019-20. This will quadruple the number of places on Skills Bootcamps, expand the offer on free Level 3 qualifications and launch the new Multiply scheme to improve numeracy skills across the UK for up to 500,000 adults.

To ensure that work pays, the government is increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 from April 2022, cutting the Universal Credit taper rate from 63p to 55p and increasing Universal Credit work allowances by £500 per year.

To support parents, £302 million will fund new early years programmes including bespoke breastfeeding services and parentinfant mental support, and funding to rollout Family Hubs across England.

And to help up to 300,000 more families facing multiple needs, there will be an extra £200 million invested in the Supporting Families programme.

To help high streets to adapt and recover, there will be a new temporary business

rates relief for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties in England and the government is freezing the business rates multiplier for a further year, a tax cut worth £4.6 billion over five years.

Chancellor’s strategy has been predicated on a sustained economic recovery Anjum Khan, director of the Asian Business Chamber of Commerce, told the newsweekly, “All in all it was a decent budget for businesses but worth noting that corporation tax and NI increases still remain on the horizon.

The Chancellor was able to introduce a number of favourable tax cuts that will ultimately help those businesses that are still struggling with the effects of the pandemic.

The Chamber has been calling for reform of the outdated business rates system and it was pleasing to see the announcement of more frequent valuations, incentives to encourage green investment and a freezing of the multiplier. It was also good to see that business rates would be slashed for those operating in the hospitality, retail and leisure sectors. Nevertheless, much of the Chancellor’s strategy has been predicated on a sustained economic recovery and as he admitted himself, the spectre of higher Covid case rates and a sharp rise in inflation could still cause huge problems for businesses during the winter. In light of this, we would urge the Treasury to commit to an appropriate level of financial support if national restrictions are re-introduced otherwise a number of businesses could be left facing a bleak future.”

The road is an uncertain one Rita Trehan, an award-winning business expert who has led business transformation initiatives at Coca Cola and the World Bank. Rita is from a family of entrepreneurs in East London and is a founder of Dare Worldwide. Commenting on the Autumn Budget 2021, she told Asian Voice, "The budget leaves me feeling cautiously optimistic, but there are many questions that need clarity, not least with business rates. The consulting work I do for clients can happen anywhere, but I still need a physical office, so I welcome the prospect of business rates reform.

However, I am yet to know what this reform will ultimately look like. Business rate discounts for the hospitality and retail sector is also a welcome boost for the high street, as is green rates relief. Yet the increase next year in corporation tax for SMES making profits of over £250k is troubling. Furthermore, the OBR still forecasts sluggish wage growth, which will do little to alleviate the worker shortage in some sectors. The economy more widely is showing signs of recovery, but the road is an uncertain one, with inflation a notable concern. It's important that businesses look after their staff in these challenging times and help them to have a say in the strategic direction of their company. So how will the budget affect my businesses? It remains to be seen but there are grounds to be positive as we slowly come to terms with the pandemic."

Key features of the Autumn Budget 2021 Stealth Tax and the Health and Social Care Levy (HSCL) – The previously announced freezing of tax allowances and thresholds for income tax and the introduction of the new HSCL are due to raise very large amounts of revenue over the next five years. These, together with the increase in dividend tax, provide a crucial backdrop to the spending increases and tax changes announced in the Autumn Budget.

Capital Gains Tax change

– From 27 October 2021, the deadline for residents to report and pay capital gains tax after selling UK residential property will increase from 30 to 60 days after the completion date. For non-UK residents disposing of property in the UK, this deadline will also increase from 30 to 60 days.

Business Rates cut – Up to 400,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties will be eligible for a temporary new £1.7 billion of business rates relief from April 2022. The business

rates multiplier will be frozen in 2022/23, which will mean business rates bills will be 3% lower than without the freeze.

From 2023, under a new business rates relief no business will face higher business rates bills for 12 months after making qualifying improvements to a property they occupy.

National Living Wage increase confirmed – A 6.6% increase to the National Living Wage to £9.50 an hour, starting on 1 April 2022, was

confirmed. Young people and apprentices will also see increases in National Minimum Wage rates.

Annual Investment Allowance extended – The Annual Investment Allowance will remain at £1 million until 31 March 2023.

Alcohol Duties reforms – Drinks will be taxed according to their alcohol content, with higher strength products incurring proportionately more duty with a standardised set of bands.

Air Passenger Duty – A new domestic band for air passenger duty for 2023 will be set at £6.50 for flights between airports in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (excluding private jets).

Universal Credit – While not the U-turn some had hoped for, the taper on Universal Credit, which has meant 63p of every £1 of benefit could end up being lost to claimants, will be cut to 55p by 1 December.

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UK - FINANCE

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19

6 - 12 November 2021

I started investing at the age of 12, with £100 borrowed from my aunt. It’s the best Diwali gift – the gift of knowledge for wealth creation. Ganesh and Alpesh Patel Lakshmi.

Dear Financial When is the best time to start investing money?

Voice Reader, Typically, as early as possible.

Whether it is saving for a pension or trying to accumulate wealth, the earlier you start, the more time you have to take advantage of compound growth.

Additionally, if you're in your 40s or 50s and haven't started, don't worry. It's not too late. If you invest smartly — and don't make any mistakes — you can still build a nice nest egg.

It's never too early to start investing or learning about investment. If you're a parent, you can do your kids a favour by teaching them about saving and financial discipline.

And when they are a little older, you can even help them invest early with an eye toward a housing deposit, or teach them to start making small, regular monthly contributions.

Many young adults are intimidated by investing. But they shouldn't be. If you are young, you've got lots of time for your investments to compound. Additionally, you can afford to take long-term positions in emerging industries.

With a bit of education and awareness, investing can be an excellent option for younger people.

Early investment has several advantages. As we mentioned earlier, compound investment is a great way to grow a lump sum. Over 30 or 40 years, this effect can become very dramatic. Additionally, investing promotes good financial habits, like saving and discipline.

Many young people are in the habit of saving, but with interest rates around 0.1% and inflation on the rise, they need to seek alternatives.

Many beginner investors aren't sure how much they should be investing. While a lot depends on personal goals and spare capital, there are some helpful general guides.

One such guide is the 50/15/5 rule.

The 50/15/5 rule suggests that 50% of earnings go towards essentials like rent, mortgage, transportation, foods, etc., 30% towards entertainment or discretionary spending, and 5% for short term savings. That leaves 15% that the rule suggests should go toward long-term investment.

For younger workers, 15% won't always be possible.

However, even starting with a lower percentage is a great way to build good habits. Then, when earnings increase, you can allocate more money toward investments.

Investing doesn't have to be complicated. Here are some tips for anyone at the start of their investment journey.

Be Serious About Investment: Many younger investors think that the stock market is about quick returns and high-risk gambles. In fact, a recent survey suggests that 61% of young investors are in it for the thrill. Which is a risky strategy that can lead to heavy losses.

Reddit stocks like Gamestop and thinly regulated markets like cryptocurrency are attracting young investors.

Additionally, "gamified" investment apps are also proving popular. While the appeal is obvious, some of these highrisk products aren't suitable for beginner investors.

Consider ETFs and Tracker Funds: Passive funds which track indices like the S&P 500 or FTSE 100 are a good option for inexperienced investors.

These investments are straightforward, have low fees, and generally produce good annual returns.

Making regular contributions to a diversified portfolio is a great strategy for beginner investors. However, if you are more interested in investing in individual stocks or industries, finding a little variety is advised.

Embrace Down Markets: If you're a new investor, your first down market can be scary. However, bear markets are an opportunity to buy great stocks at a discount. New investors should learn to appreciate the benefits these circumstances can bring.

Growth Stocks: Growth stocks are an obvious choice when you start your investment journey. Remember, you are in it for the long haul, so stocks with the potential to deliver sustained returns will help you compound your investments.

Learn From the Mistakes of Others: Some mistakes are inevitable. But repeating the mistakes of others can be avoided. So when other investors talk about their biggest mistakes, try to listen. Some of the most valuable things you can learn are what not to do.

Summary Investing as early as possible is the best way to maximize returns. Compounding the returns from an index like the S&P 500 can turn small, regular investments into a considerable retirement fund.

While younger investors will get an early advantage, don't worry if you're only getting started in your 40s and 50s. With the right strategy and a disciplined approach, you can still put together a big pot.

My free resources at www.campaignforamillion.com will get you started strongly.

Venkat is Barclays CEO as Epstein fallout claims boss Karnataka born CS Venkatakrishnan, who was Barclays global head of markets and previously chief risk officer, has replaced Jes Staley as the British bank’s CEO after the latter stepped down amid a UK regulatory probe into his ties to financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Staley’s departure came after UK regulators shared with Barclays the preliminary findings of their multi-year probe into what he told the bank’s board

about his relationship with Epstein following the latter’s 2019 arrest on sex-trafficking charges.

“The board is disappointed at this outcome,” the lender said. The regulators’ findings have not yet been made public. Venkat said his mentor’s shock departure means he is taking over the British lender “with deeply mixed emotions”. Staley “became chief executive of Barclays in one of our darkest hours, and devised and implemented a successful recovery strategy

of outstanding vision,” the executive, who is known as Venkat, said in his first memo as CEO on Monday.

Barclays promoted Venkat and global head of banking Paul Compton last year as part of its plans to eventually replace Staley. Chairman Nigel Higgins started looking outside the bank for possible successors in early 2020, but put the process on hold to avoid destabilis-

CS Venkatakrishnan

ing the firm during the pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter.

Barclays confirmed on Monday that it had reviewed external candidates but didn’t immediately respond to a request to comment further.

Brexit harming the economy, says opinion poll More than twice the voters now believe that Brexit is taking a negative toll on the UK economy, as per the latest opinion poll for the Observer. The survey comes as Richard Hughes, the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, said his organization calculated that the negative impact on GDP caused by the UK’s exit from the EU was expected to be twice as great as that resulting from the pandemic.

Hughes said Brexit would reduce the UK’s potential GDP by about 4 per cent in the long term,

while the pandemic would cut it “by a further 2 per cent”. He added, “In the long term, it is the case that Brexit has a bigger impact than the pandemic.” The

findings appear to be in line with other recent polling, which showed concern about the effects of Brexit rising to the point that it is not seen as the biggest issue

for the country alongside Covid-19.

The opinion survey found that 44 per cent of people think Brexit is having a bad impact on the UK economy, compared with 25 per cent who think it is having a positive effect. In fact, 53 per cent people believe Brexit is having a bad effect on prices in shops, against 13 per cent who think it is having a good effect, while 51 per cent think it is adversely affecting the UK’s ability to import goods from the EU, against 15 per cent who think it is helping.

Rising mortgage rates may possibly cool UK housing rates Analysts have warned that rising mortgage rates risk bringing down buyers, and slowing runaway price growth. Several UK banks reported strong mortgage demand in their thirdquarter results last week, including Santander, NatWest, and Lloyds.

Chief executive of Lloyds, Charlie Nunn was quoted in a report as saying, “The structural factors include things like rela-

tively low unemployment and…. Low interest rates. I also include people’s housing preference in terms of moving to new locations to find more space… technical factors, in particular the stamp duty holiday.”

Markets are betting that interest rates could rise from 0.1 per cent to 1.25 per cent by the end of 2022. In response to rising inflation and in anticipation of an increase in

interest rates, lenders have been raising their mortgage rates over the past few weeks.

HSBC, NatWest and Barclays have increased rates on fixed-rate deals in the last week, emulating moves by Halifax, Nationwide, and Santander.

Property portal Zoopla forecasts that house prices will increase by 3 per cent next year, a far more moderate gain than the double-

digit leaps seen across the UK in the past 12 months.

Chief UK economist at Credit Suisse Sonali Punhani said, “There are more people who are more committed to moving home, there’s no sign of any stamp duty cliff edge at all and a lot of people have made a lot of money from their home in the last year for the first time in a long time. That’s bringing them into the market.”

Ryanair set to cut winter Osborne’s Google tax a big fares to boost demand flop, raises zero revenue Irish airline Ryanair says it is expecting to cut fares this winter to help boost passenger demand. While the airline has seen business picking up recently, it warned it was still recovering from the Covid-related collapse in air travel. It has reported a narrowing of half-year losses, but warned its annual deficit could hit €200m (£170m).

Boss Michael O'Leary told the BBC the industry was seeing a "very strong recovery" across Europe.

However, he said heavy price discounting would be needed to fill aircraft this winter.

Keeping prices low and

passenger numbers high would "set us up strongly for a very strong recovery", he said.

O'Leary added that the number of empty seats per plane would shrink from around 20% to under 10% by next summer. The airline expects to return to profitability in the year ending March 2023. "We're seeing very strong recovery in short-haul travel across Europe and it is being led by Ryanair," he said.

He said there had been a "dramatic" recovery in passenger numbers, from eight million in the three months to June to 31 million in the following three months.

The coalition government’s ‘Google Tax’, aimed at cracking down on multinationals shifting profits overseas, has been criticized as a “total failure”. New documents show it is predicted to raise no money over the next six years. Officials had predicted that the tax would raise up to £400mn a year, but new figures published with the budget last week show revenues slumping to zero.

Shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, Labour Party’s James Murray said, “Rishi Sunak tried to bury it but the diverted profit tax is a total failure. The government’s own documents admit it will bring in absolutely nothing. Big multinationals are benefiting time and again from the chancellor’s tax breaks, while British businesses are stifled with debt and unfair business rates.” The tax was originally introduced by the then chancellor, George Osborne, to stop large-scale tax avoidance.

Osborne said the tax was “designed to deal with the very real anger that people feel when they see large businesses not paying tax.” It was called a “world-leading” anti-avoidance measure. However, it later emerged that Google would not be paying the tax, after negotiations with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), but other companies were forced to.

20 FINANCE & REAL ESTATE

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6 - 12 November 2021

Paytm IPO opens on Nov 8 and closes on 10th The £1.83 billion mega IPO of Paytm’s parent One97 Communications will open on November 8 and close on the 10th. The company cleared the last hurdle for its IPO - a nod to its offer document from the Registrar of Companies.

The clearance came on the day Swiss Re announced a £92 million investment in Paytm Insuretech, the holding company for its non-life business, for a 23% stake.

The price range for the shares is likely to be Rs 2,080-2,150. At that price range, the company’s targeted valuation is around $20 billion. The red herring prospectus gives an insight into the company’s financial

performance in the first quarter.

According to the document, the company’s revenue is up 46% to £94.8 million in Q1FY22 from £64.9 million in Q1FY21.

Paytm’s losses stood at £38.2 million for the three months ended June 2021 following higher employee expenses, which include accounting for ESOPs and an increase in headcount.

Paytm’s user base grew in the first three months of FY22 to 337 million r e g i s t e r e d consumers and 22 million merchants.

The number of monthly transacting users also saw a 33% increase to 57 million as of September 30. Payments and financial services contribute nearly 80% of the revenue for the company. According to the prospectus, the revenue for the first quarter in this segment stood at £68.9 million. The contributing margin, which is a reflection of unit profitability, rose to 27% from 15% a year ago.

The Paytm has hiked its

IPO size to £1.83 bn from £1.66 billion as the increased portion will all come in the offer-for-sale (OFS) component with existing shareholders selling more of their shares. The size of the primary offering will remain unchanged at £830 million, while the secondary sale size will now be £1 billion.

The biggest IPO in the history of Indian capital markets so far has been that of Coal India (CIL), which raised £1.55 billion in 2010.

The Paytm issue will see the shares of One 97 Communications (Paytm’s parent company) being listed both on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.

Future Retail moves Delhi HC, challenges SIAC ruling The Amazon-Future battle over the Reliance Retail deal has yet again reached the Delhi high court, with the Future Group seeking a stay on an interim order passed by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) on 21 October. According to a regulatory filing, Future Group promoters and Future Coupons Pvt. Ltd have also urged the high court to set aside the SIAC order.

Last week, SIAC dismissed Future Group’s appeal to vacate the interim stay on the Reliance transaction awarded in October 2020. In its appeal,

the company contested the observation of the arbitration court, saying that Future Retail was in no way a party to the agreement between Amazon and Future Coupons, as the group promoters had not signed any agreement with Amazon.

Amazon invested £140

RBI governor gets threeyear extension

Shaktikanta Das

The government reappointed Shaktikanta Das as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a period of three years from December 20, 2021, or until further orders.

Completion of the term would make Das the longest serving governor in over seven decades and second longest in RBI’s history.

The longer-thanexpected tenure is seen by the markets as a message that the government wants to ensure continuity. The Appointments Committee

of the Cabinet issued its order on reappointment last week. The longestserving RBI governor to date was Benegal Rama Rau, who was in office for seven years and 197 days between July 1, 1949, and January 14, 1957.

“The reappointment of governor Das for a threeyear term signals continuity of monetary policy and gives greater stability to government-RBI relations,” said Rahul Bajoria, India economist at Barclays in a note.

million in Future Coupons, which owns nearly 10% stake in Future Retail.

In its appeal, Future Retail has also urged the court to allow the company to conduct a meeting of shareholders and creditors, according to an order of the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

On 28 September, the NCLT had allowed the Kishore Biyani-led group companies to hold meetings of shareholders and creditors for approval to sell

all its assets to Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. Last week, Amazon filed an interim application in the Supreme Court to restrain Future Retail from holding the meeting of shareholders and creditors on the Reliance Retail deal.

On 29 August 2020, the debt-laden Future Group announced the sale of its retail and wholesale assets to Reliance Industries Ltd’s subsidiaries for £2.47 billion.

Soon after, Amazon approached SIAC on the grounds that its investment agreement with Future Coupons, another Biyani firm, bars Future Retail from selling its assets to Reliance.

Indians paid £970 mn in hidden forex fees Indians paid nearly £970 million in the form of fees hidden in inflated exchange rates while making remittances in 2020. This is more than a third (36%) of the total fees of £2.63 billion that Indians paid for sending money across their country’s borders.

The fees reflect a lack of transparency and high charges applied by banks on remittances. Banks have been reducing the fees on foreign remittances and their income under this head fell from £ 1.50 billion in 2016 to £1.21 billion in 2019.

However, they have protected themselves by recovering £442 million through exchange mark-up in 2020, which was up from £250.5 million in 2016.

These figures were from independent research carried out by Capital Economics in August 2021, which aimed to estimate the scale of foreign exchange transaction fees in India. The study was released by Wise,

the technology company that was founded with the objective of reducing crossborder remittance costs.

Overseas workers sending money into India are also losing money. Over the past five years, money lost to exchange rate margins on inward remittances has grown from £420 million to £790 million.

Meanwhile, fees paid to transaction costs have grown from £1.02 billion in 2016 to £1.4 billion in 2020. “A significant portion of these fees paid on remittances to India come from people in Gulf countries where most are employed in bluecollared jobs to support their families back home in India,” a statement issued by Wise said. Of the share of total fees paid on inward remittances to India in 2020, Saudi Arabia ranked first at 24%, followed by the US (18%), the UK (15%), Qatar (8%), Canada (6%), Oman (5%), UAE (5%), Kuwait (5%), and Australia (4%).

Broadening Your Horizons Suresh Vagjiani, Sow & Reap Properties Ltd

We have been scouring the auctions, in order to find a deal; and it’s tough to find the margins we require, in London anyhow. The properties we analysed were priced up to what they were worth, though admittedly the numbers we use to assess deals tend to be pessimistic.

The issue is everyone can pretty much assess the end value of a building in 15mins max with help from websites like Rightmove and Zoopla. The build costs have a wider margin of variability. When getting quotes for projects we have had quotes which vary in price by 80% and even higher. In this environment you have the added issuing of nailing a builder down regardless of the price as currently there is a shortage of labour in the building sector. This has resulted in them being choosy about which jobs they take and at what price.

The end value is generally the overriding factor in assessing a deal, the build cost will eat into your margin depending on the quote, but usually won’t kill the deal.

We usually start from the end value and then work backwards taking off the expected costs to get down to the price we would pay for the deal.

We looked at perhaps all the shop and upper lots coming into what are probably the last auctions of this year, and there was not enough margin in any of them to satisfy us.

Does that mean they will not sell? Not at all. The is a lot of money wanting a nice solid safe place to stay, and there’s nothing like property to satisfy this need.

Several months back we were geared up to bid for a site in Harrow & Wealdstone, it came with planning for a shop and two flats; the guide was £200K, the next door was selling for £675K, and was on the market looking for a buyer. This was a developed shop with two large flats, needing work but the bones of the building were intact, so no structural work was required. The build cost we were quoted for the site was £350K. The property ended up going for £331K, which makes absolutely no sense. My only rationale was somebody simply wanted this property as it was local to them, and it was in an area which has the highest concentration of Gujaratis, many like to purchase simply because the site is local to them. In short, it seems the reasons were based on sentiment and whims, rather than an objective investment. Or perhaps the buyer was a builder planning on doing the work themselves.

Therefore, in order to seek a deal which has sufficient margin we have had to shift our sights further afield. We still need to ensure the end value is reasonably strong and the demand is strong.

The end value is reasonably easy to ascertain, but it always pays to dig deeper and get the local knowledge, as there are variations in price according to local factors which are imperceptible to someone sitting behind a PC. This is when the numbers finally clicked, and the deals started to become justifiable. As long as the site is close to transport, and enough digging is done locally, I think this would be a very lucrative direction to pursue. Currently we are analysing a deal around the £500K mark, which ticks all of our boxes.

Six Indian companies set to raise £3.14 in two weeks The Indian capital market is set to witness one of the busiest fortnights in its history as six companies have lined up to raise about £3.14 billion by November 10. The six issues include the one from tech-enabled payments major One 97 Communications, operating under the Paytm brand, which aims to raise £1.83 billion. Paytm has priced its IPO shares in the Rs 2,080-2,150 band per share, indicating the company seeks a valuation of about $20 billion. This will make the Paytm IPO the largest ever in india's history. Till date the biggest IPO in India was the £1.55 billion offer by Coal India in October-November 2010.

According to market sources, this could have two major implications for Dalal Street and the economy. First, there are fears among traders that the deluge of IPOs could force several investors to offload part of their portfolio and divert that money to invest in these offers, especially for listing gains. Second, the inflows from foreign funds, estimated to be about 40-50% of the total offer, could mean £1.2 to 1.5 billion of forex inflows. This, in turn, could help appreciate the rupee.

In addition to the big ticket listings, three more high profile IPOs are also lined up after these got the Sebi green signal in the last few weeks. Adani Wilmar is eyeing £450 million, One MobiKwik is expected to raise £190 million and the offer size for Star Health is expected to be in excess of £300 million, market sources said. These offers could open anytime now, merchant bankers said.

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in brief INDIAN ACQUITTED OF TRESPASSING CHARGE A 37-year-old Indian man who was arrested from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on January 16 after he spent three months undetected at a secure area at the airport, and drew comparisons to the 2004 Tom Hanks movie ‘The Terminal’, has been acquitted on a felony trespassing charge. A Cook county judge found him not guilty of felony criminal trespass to a restricted area of an airport. Aditya Singh came to the US nearly six years ago to complete a master’s degree programme. He boarded a Chicagobound flight from Los Angeles on October 19, 2020, to begin his journey home to India. He never made it. Prosecutors said Singh told authorities that the pandemic left him too afraid to fly and so he instead remained at the airport, often relying on the kindness of strangers for food.

MAN DRESSED AS ‘JOKER’ STABS MANY ON TOKYO TRAIN A 24-year-old man dressed in Batman’s Joker costume attacked passengers on a Tokyo train line on Sunday evening, injuring about 17 people as many party-goers headed into the city centre for Halloween gatherings, media reported. Police arrested the suspected attacker on the spot, media reported. A man in his 60s was unconscious and in critical condition after being stabbed, while witnesses also said the attacker had spread fluid around the train and started a fire, according to media. The Tokyo fire department said 17 passengers were injured, including three seriously. One video showed a steady stream of people running away from a train car where, seconds later, a small explosion caused a fire. NHK said the suspect, after stabbing passengers, poured a liquid resembling oil and set fire.

REVERSE COUP, UN CHIEF TELLS SUDAN ARMY The UN secretary general urged Sudan’s generals to reverse their takeover of the country, a day after tens of thousands of people took to the streets in the largest prodemocracy protest since last week’s coup.

Antonio Guterres said the generals should “take heed” of the protests. “Time to go back to the legitimate constitutional arrangements,” he said in a tweet. He was referring to a power-sharing deal that established joint military-civilian rule. The UN envoy for Sudan, Volker Perthes, meanwhile, said he met with Abdalla Hamdok, the deposed PM who remained under house arrest in the capital Khartoum. “We discussed options for mediation... I will continue these efforts with other Sudanese stakeholders,” he said.

BRAZIL PREZ FACE CHARGES OVER COVID A congressional panel in Brazil voted to recommend nine criminal charges against President Jair Bolsonaro, including “crimes against humanity,” accusing Bolsonaro of intentionally allowing the coronavirus to spread unchecked through Brazil in a bid to reach herd immunity. The Senate panel also recommended charges against 77 other people, including government officials, private citizens and three of Bolsonaro’s sons, for a variety of crimes related to their response to the pandemic. The panel also recommended charges against two companies. In a sixmonth investigation, the panel found that Bolsonaro and members of his administration discouraged people from wearing masks, ignored offers of vaccines and promoted unproven drugs long after they were found to be ineffective. The report found that the actions, taken together, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths. Brazil has had more than 6,00,000 deaths from Covid, second only to the US, where over 7,37,000 have died.

Taliban welcome Indian aid, ready to give security to diplomats KABUL: Amid renewed efforts by the government in Kabul to seek international recognition, the Taliban have said they are open to receiving Indian diplomats and providing security to them. As winter fast approaches, threatening to further worsen the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, Taliban spokesperson and ambassador-designate to UN Suhail Shaheen also said that Taliban will welcome aid at this critical juncture.

“We are open to receiving all diplomats and committed to providing security for their routine diplomatic functions,” said Shaheen, responding to a query on whether or not Indian diplomats can return to Afghanistan. India has supported aid for Afghanistan but prefers it being routed through the UN. “Similarly, we welcome humanitarian aid in this critical time as the winter is around the corner,” he added, when asked about India’s aid offer to Afghanistan on the margins of the recent ‘Moscow Format’ talks.

Taliban foot soldiers unleash terror Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership has been silent on the reign of terror unleashed by their foot soldiers on the people across the country even as recent videos of extrajudicial killings in public prove that the uncontrolled Talibs from a rural and tribal Pashtun background are targeting people on mere

Suhail Shaheen

suspicion or for no reason at all. In one such video, a terror suspect was killed with a rocket launcher. In the latest instance of unchecked brutality, Saeed, a local Afghan who wanted to flee the country, was killed in broad daylight in the presence of local people. Last week, another barbaric video was shared on social media in which Taliban fighters had publicly killed a person with a rocket launcher on suspicion that he was an Islamic State-Khurasan (IS-K) member.

Taliban chief makes public appearance Kabul: Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, made a rare public appearance in the southern city of Kandahar, Taliban sources said, belying widespread rumours of his death.

Akhundzada, known as the leader of the faithful or Amir ul Momineen, had not been

seen in public even after the Taliban’s August takeover of the country, giving rise to the speculation.

A senior Taliban leader who was present with Akhundzada during the appearance said the supreme leader had visited Jamia Darul Aloom Hakimia, a religious school in Kandahar on Saturday. He visited the madrassa to “speak to his brave soldiers and disciples”, according to the introduction to an audio recording circulated by Taliban social media accounts.

Some girls allowed to return to schools In Mazar-e-Sharif, a commercial hub in Afghanistan’s north, the Taliban have allowed middle- and high school-aged girls back into the classrooms, even as in the rest of the country most have been forced to stay home. Under pressure from foreign governments and international aid groups, Taliban officials insist that things will be different for girls and women from the last time the militants were in power, and that some form of education for them will be permitted, including graduate and postgraduate programmes. Some middle and high schools have already been allowed to reopen their doors to girls in the north, where women have long played a more prominent role in society than in the Taliban’s southern heartland.

British army accused of covering up murder of Kenyan woman NAIROBI: The family of a Kenyan woman who was allegedly killed by a British soldier in 2012, is crying foul as they are yet to receive justice almost 10 years after the death of the death of Agnes Wanjru.

Wanjiru was a 21-year-old mother of a 5month old daughter when she was reported missing in March 2012. Her body was retrieved almost 3 months later from a hotel's septic tank in central Kenya.

According to witness accounts, she had been last seen partying in the company of British soldiers. In 2019, an inquest by a Kenyan judge concluded that Wanjiru had

been murdered by one or 2 British soldiers.

An order by the judge for two further inquiries hit a snag after the British military took no action.

According to a report done by the Sunday Times, the killer confessed to a fellow soldier. When the soldier reported the confession, no action was taken by the army.

According to UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, the Ministry of Defense is expected to continue offering support to the Kenyan investigation as far as the case is concerned.

However, this was dismissed by social activists who have called for the extradition

of the alleged killer.

Pak govt, TLP reach Nigerian man arrested for putting himself up for sale agreement after discussions ABUJA: Islamic religious police in northern Nigeria arrested a man who put himself up for sale to escape biting poverty, a local official said. Aliyu Idris, 26, was arrested by the morality police in Kano after pictures emerged on social media showing him holding a placard indicating he was up for auction at 20 million naira ($49,000).

Kano is one of a dozen predominantly Muslim northern Nigerian states where sharia law is enforced alongside common law. "We arrested him for putting himself up for sale, which is illegal under Islamic law," said Lawal Ibrahim Fagge, a spokesman for the religious police called Hisbah.

"He is in our custody," said Fagge, blaming the young man's "abhorrent action" on poverty and ignorance. Last week Idris, a tailor from neighbouring Kaduna, went around the city with the placard inscribed with the sale offer.

Residents posted pictures of him online, turning him into a sensation.

The young man told reporters he was "selling" himself out of "excruciating poverty" and that he intended to give half the money to his parents and two million naira to anyone who could facilitate the

auction.

He had also promised to be a "loyal servant" to his buyer. "We all know there is grinding poverty in the society, but that does not give anyone the right to put himself up for sale," Fagge said. "The era of slavery is over." Hisbah subjected Idris to a mental evaluation and found him to be sane, Fagge said.

Nigeria has been grappling with a tottering economy because of the weakening of the local currency and dwindling oil revenues, which account for 90 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings. Slipping into its second recession in five years after the start of the pandemic, Nigeria's economy has bounced back to growth in recent months.

But inflation, especially food prices, remains stubbornly high, plunging Nigerians, most of whom live on less than two US dollars a day, further into poverty.

According to Fagge, Idris left his village and moved to Kano to look for work but was not successful.

"He told us he couldn't get any job, including menial work, and decided to sell himself," the spokesman said.

No charges were filed against Idris, but Hisbah said he was given counselling sessionsAbuja.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government and the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) have reached an agreement after lengthy negotiations following days of violent protests by the outfit’s members demanding release of their party chief and expulsion of the French ambassador, the negotiating team appointed by PM Imran Khan announced.

PM Khan had tasked a group of influential clerics to hold talks with TLP, whose thousands of members started marching towards Islamabad from Lahore on October15 after the government announced that it cannot meet its demand for the expulsion of the French ambassador.

The announcement of the deal was made at a press conference attended by foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, parliamentary affairs minister Ali Mohammad Khan, religious scholar Mufti Muneebur Rehman and TLP members Mufti Ghulam Abbas Faizi and Mufti Mohammad Ameer.

“The government and TLP had a detailed discussion under the environment of mutual trust, and a deal has been reached,” Mufti Muneeb, who led the talks on behalf of the government, was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper. “The deal was reached after sense prevailed over aggression, rationality prevailed over sentiments,” he said. He did not give any specific details of the deal, saying they’ll be shared at an “appropriate time”.

Four policemen killed in violence Four Pakistani police officers were killed and hundreds wounded when armed activists from a banned group clashed with security forces at an anti-blasphemy demonstration near the eastern city of Lahore, officials said. The clashes broke out at a rally of TLP on a highway in Sheikhupura, just outside Lahore, as the group prepared to march on the capital Islamabad, a spokesman for the Punjab police said. The TLP is protesting against the detention of its leader Saad Rizvi, arrested in April when the group was outlawed by authorities, and is demanding the expulsion of France’s ambassador for the publication of a series of caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad by a French satirical magazine.

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Trudeau names Anita Anand as defence minister; 3 Indian origins in cabinet TORONTO: Canada’s first Hindu cabinet minister made history by becoming the country’s second-ever woman defence minister by replacing fellow Indo-Canadian Harjit Sajjan as PM Justin Trudeau unveiled his new cabinet. Sajjan will be the new minister of international affairs. Another Indo-Canadian woman Kamal Khera, the 32-year-old MP from Brampton West, also took oath as minister for seniors, taking the number of Indo-Canadian ministers in the Trudeau cabinet to three. The sitting Indo-Canadian woman minister Bardish Chagger, who held the ministry of diversity, inclusion and youth of Canada, has been shuffled out.

Anita Anand

The two Indo-Canadian women are among six women ministers in the new cabinet.

Trudeau demoted Harjit Sajjan for failing to address the allegations of sexual misconduct in the Canadian

military and rewarded Anita Anand and Kamal Khera for their work during the pandemic. Anand has been praised for her work as procurement minister and Khera a registered nurse for going back to work as a healthcare provider at the peak of the pandemic. A threetime MP since 2015, Khera has also served as a parliamentary secretary to the ministers of health and international trade.

Anita was born in 1967 in Nova Scotia to Indian parents who were both medical professionals. Her mother Saroj

D Ram came from Punjab and father S V Anand from Tamil Nadu. Anita, who is on leave as a professor of law at the University of Toronto, was picked up as minister of public service and procurement by PM Justin in 2019 after her election as MP from Oakville near Toronto. Anita assisted the Air India Inquiry Commission with research.

The extensive commission investigated the bombing of Air India Kanishka Flight 182 on June 23, 1985, that killed all 329 people on board.

Before Anita Anand, Canada’s only woman defence minister was former PM Kim Campbell who held the portfolio for six months from January 4 to June 25 in 1993.

G20 offers little new to limit global warming ROME: Leaders of the Group of 20 major economies agreed on a final statement on Sunday that urged “meaningful and effective” action to limit global warming but offered few concrete commitments and disappointed climate activists. The result of days of tough negotiation among diplomats leaves huge work to be done at a broader UN COP26 climate summit in Scotland, to where most of the G20 leaders will fly directly from Rome.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, who warned that the world was rushing headlong towards climate disaster, said the Rome summit neither fulfilled his hopes nor buried them. “While I welcome the #G20’s recommitment to global solutions, I leave Rome with my hopes unfulfilled — but at least they are not buried,” he said in a tweet. “Onwards to #COP26 in Glasgow to keep the

goal of 1.5 degrees alive and to implement promises on finance and adaptation for people & planet.” The1.5°C threshold is what UN experts say must be met to avoid a dramatic acceleration of extreme climate events like droughts, storms and floods, and to reach it they recommend net zero emissions should be achieved by 2050.

The G20 bloc, which includes Brazil, China, India, Germany and the US, accounts

Facebook changes its name to Meta in major rebrand NEW YORK: Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta as part of a major rebrand. The company said it would better "encompass" what it does, as it broadens its reach beyond social media into areas like virtual reality (VR).

The change does not apply to its individual platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, only the parent company that owns them. The move follows a series of negative stories about Facebook, based on documents leaked by an exemployee. Frances Haugen has accused the company of putting "profits over safety".

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg announced the new name as he unveiled plans to build a "metaverse" - an online world where people can game, work and communicate in a virtual environment, often using VR headsets. He said the existing brand could not "possibly represent everything that we're doing today, let alone in the future", and needed to change.

"Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we're building towards," he told a virtual conference. "We're now looking at and reporting on our business as two different segments, one for our family of apps, and one for our work on future platforms.

for an estimated 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The final document says current national plans on how to curb emissions will have to be strengthened “if necessary” and makes no specific reference to 2050 as a date to achieve net zero carbon emissions. “We recognise that the impacts of climate change at 1.5°C are much lower than at 2°C. Keeping 1.5°C within reach will require meaningful and effective actions

and commitment by all countries,” the communique said.

The leaders only recognised “the key relevance” of halting net emissions “by or around mid-century”, a phrase that removed the 2050 date seen in previous versions of the final statement so as to make the target less specific. China, the world’s biggest CO2 emitter, has set a target date of 2060, and other large polluters such as India and Russia have also not committed to the 2050 target date.

The final G20 statement includes a pledge to halt financing of overseas coal-fired power generation by the end of this year, but set no date for phasing out coal power, promising only to do so “as soon as possible”.

Read about Modi's visit to COP26 on P15.

US returns 250 antiquities stolen from India NEW YORK: US authorities returned about 250 antiquities to India on Oct 28 in a longrunning investigation of a stolen art scheme.

The items, worth an estimated $15 million, were handed over during a ceremony at the Indian Consulate in New York City. The centerpiece is a bronze Shiva Nataraja valued at $4 million, authorities said.

The ceremony stems from a sprawling probe by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The investigation has focused on tens of thousands of antiquities allegedly smuggled into the United States by Indian American dealer Subhash Kapoor, who has denied the allegations.

The case “serves as a potent reminder that individuals who maraud sacred temples in pursuit of individual profit are committing crimes not only against a country’s heritage but also its present and future,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement.

Authorities say Kapoor - jailed in India and facing charges there pending a US extradition request - used his Arts of the Past gallery in New York to traffic looted treasures from India and various countries in Southeast Asia.

The investigation has resulted in the recovery of 2,500 artifacts valued at $143 million and convictions of six Kapoor co-conspirators, Vance said. The Shiva Nataraja bronze was sold by the mother of Nancy Wiener, a gallery operator who pleaded guilty in the case this month to charges of conspiracy and

possession of stolen property, authorities said. Nancy Wiener sold looted items to major museums in Australia and Singapore, they said. In June, the district attorney’s office returned more than two dozen artifacts worth $3.8 million to Cambodia as part of the investigation. Another 33 objects were sent back to Afghanistan in April.

Court papers filed in New York says Kapoor went to extraordinary lengths to acquire the artifacts, many of them statues of Hindu deities, and then falsified their provenance with forged documents. They say Kapoor travelled the world seeking out antiquities that had been looted from temples, homes and archaeological sites.

Some of the artifacts were recovered from Kapoor’s storage units in New York.

Kapoor had the items cleansed and repaired to remove any damage from illegal excavation, and then illegally exported them to the United States from their countries of origin, according to US prosecutors.

in brief GUNMEN KILL 18 AT MOSQUE IN NIGERIA As many as 18 worshippers were killed in central Nigeria during early morning prayers at a mosque, a government official said. The attack took place in Maza-Kuka village in Mashegu district of Niger state, said Ahmed Ibrahim Matane, the secretary to the government. Hundreds of motorcycle-borne gunmen stormed the village and opened fire, he said. Three worshippers were injured in the attack, one of them critically, he said. Matane said, “We are still investigating the motive of the attack.” He added the government had already dispatched military and police personnel for securing the area. Ransom gangs of thieves and kidnappers, locally known as bandits, have been terrorising communities in northwest and central Nigeria where they raid villages, killing and burning homes after looting them.

6MN UNDER LOCKDOWN IN CHINA China placed a third city under lockdown last week to tackle Covid-19 numbers, with around six million people now under orders to stay home as Beijing chases zero cases before the Winter Olympics. The country has taken a zero tolerance approach to the virus since it first emerged in Wuhan in 2019. The resurgence prompted officials this week to lock down Lanzhou city - with a population of over four million - and Ejin in Inner Mongolia region.

After one new case, authorities in Heihe followed suit. China reported 23 new cases there. The latest outbreak has been linked to the highly contagious Delta variant, with the tally hitting 198 cases since October 17.

7 KILLED IN CHINA KNIFE ATTACK Police in central China were hunting for a man who killed seven people, including a village Communist Party chief, before jumping off a bridge, officers said. The suspect, surnamed Gao, stabbed to death a family of five, including two children in Wuhan, the city’s police force said in a statement. He fatally wounded a passerby and a cab driver while trying to steal a car to escape, it added, saying he then jumped off a bridge over the Yangtze River. The force did not say whether the man was thought to have survived the jump.

JAPAN PRINCESS MARRIES FIANCÉ, GIVES UP ROYALTY Japan’s Princess Mako, the niece of the emperor, married college sweetheart Kei Komuro last week, giving up her royal title and saying she was determined to build a happy life with her “irreplaceable” husband after a tumultuous engagement. The two, 30, were married after an official from the Imperial Household Agency (IHA), which runs the family’s lives, submitted paperwork to a local office registering their marriage. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) earlier this year after a four year engagement plagued by money scandals and intense media scrutiny. She will now be known as Mako Komuro.

10 US STATES SUE BIDEN GOVT Ten Republican states have filed a lawsuit to stop President Biden’s Covid vaccine mandate for federal contractors. Attorney generals from Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming signed on to the lawsuit, which was filed in a federal district court in Missouri. The states asked the judge to block Biden’s requirement that all employees of federal contractors be vaccinated by December 8, arguing that the mandate violates federal procurement law and is an overreach of federal power.

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4 get death for blasts at 2013 Aryan Khan returns home Modi rally, jail terms for 5 from jail amid cheering crowds A special NIA court handed the death sentence to four out of nine SIMI terrorists convicted of triggering the 2013 serial blasts that killed six people and injured 89 during then PM candidate Narendra Modi’s rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. The court of additional district and sessions Judge Gurvinder Singh Malhotra sentenced two of the other convicts to life imprisonment and gave the rest jail terms ranging from seven to 10 years.

Haider Ali alias Black Beauty, Numan Ansari, Mujibullah Ansari and Imtiaz Ansari are the four who were handed capital punishment for masterminding and executing the serial blasts. Their associates Umer Siddique and Azharuddin Qureshi got life terms. Barring Numan, each of them is already serving life for the Bodh Gaya Mahabodhi blasts whick took place a little over three months before the October 27, 2013, Gandhi Maidan attack. Ahmad Hussain and Mohammad Feroz Aslam got a 10-year term each while Mohammad Ifteqaar Alam was sentenced to seven years in jail. A juvenile convicted separately for the same crime is currently in a

remand home in connection with a case lodged against him in Chhattisgarh.

The NIA court had acquitted one of the accused, Fakkruddin, for lack of evidence while pronouncing its verdict on October 27. The banned SIMI had originally planned a suicide bombing to target PM Modi, who was then the Gujarat CM, the investigation revealed. A total of 14 unexploded bombs were found at the rally venue later.

According to the NIA’s findings, Umer headed SIMI in Chhattisgarh while Haider was the terror outfit’s Jharkhand chief. The duo, in collaboration with Azharuddin and others, held several meetings in Raipur and Ranchi to plan the ter-

ror attacks.

Special public prosecutor Lallan Prasad Sinha said the quartet on death row had ferried the bombs from Ranchi by bus and planted them at the rally ground.

Sinha said the NIA had sought the death penalty for Umer and Azharuddin, too, but the court showed leniency as both had confessed to their crime and had a limited role in the conspiracy. The court slapped a fine of Rs 90,000 each on Haider, Numan and Mujibullah and Rs 80,000 on Imtiaz.

Umer and Azharuddin were fined Rs 60,000 each while Ahmad and Ifteqaar were told to pay Rs 10,000 each, failing which their jail terms will increase by a month.

Aryan Khan finally returned home on Saturday morning to a hero’s welcome, two days after the Bombay high court granted him bail and almost a month of being lodged at Arthur Road Jail following his arrest in the drugs-oncruise case. Jail officials had unlocked the bail box at 5.30 am on Saturday to collect Aryan’s release order to initiate the process that had missed its deadline on Friday.

While his father, actor Shah Rukh Khan, left home at 8 am and managed to dodge the media glare the crowd of onlookers that grew by the minute cheered excitedly at a fleeting glimpse of Junior Khan as he emerged from the Arthur Road Jail with Ravi Singh, Shah Rukh Khan’s bodyguard of 10 years, briskly escorting the 23-year-old into the SUV, ready to drive back home.

Meanwhile, the fans gathered outside Mannat, the Khans bungalow, waited in unwavering support. “If we’ve been there for Shah Rukh in the good times, it’s our responsibility to be here for him in the bad times,” said Aparna Agnihotri, member of a fan club, as all went delirious bursting firecrackers, waving banners that read ‘Stay Strong Prince Aryan’ and chants of “We love Shah Rukh.”

Mukul Rohatgi, former Attorney General of India, fought for Aryan Khan's bail in the High Court for three days. Actor Juhi Chawla, Shah Rukh Khan's co-star in the early days of his film career, signed the Rs 100,000 bail bond for Aryan Khan.

Aryan Khan spent nearly a month in jail after his arrest following a Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) raid on a cruise ship party on October 2. He was "Accused Number 1" in

the case in which a total of 20 were arrested. The antidrugs agency found no drugs on him, but claimed in court that his WhatsApp chats proved his involvement in "illicit drug deals" and links with a foreign drugs cartel.

The Bombay High Court has listed 14 conditions for his bail - Aryan Khan cannot leave Mumbai without informing the police and has to appear before the agency every Friday.

Nine others also granted bail A special NDPS court also granted bail to nine arrested accused in the cruise drugs bust case, including the alleged organisers and Aachit Kumar, a 22-year-old student studying in London but arrested from Mumbai, who was accused of being the “supplier” to co-accused Aryan Khan and Arbaaz Merchant.

Unlike in the case of Khan and two others, special judge VV Patil allowed a plea by the accused to be released on a temporary cash bail of Rs 50,000. The nine accused will have to furnish sureties, a longer procedure, within four weeks. Nupur Satija (29) was the first among the nine to make her way home after being released from the jail.

Among those granted bail were Kumar, cruise guests Nupur, Ishmeet Singh Chada (33) and Gomit Chopra (28), city-based alleged peddler Shreyas Nair (23) and alleged organizers Gopal Jee Anand (35), Samir Sehgal (30), Manav Singhal (33) and Bhaskar Arora (26), part of Delhi-based company Caneplus Trading Pvt Ltd operating under the brand name Namas’cray. They were all arrested between October 3 and 6. Imposing conditions, the court said they are to attend the NCB office every Monday until the chargesheet is submitted.

ED arrests former Maharashtra In a tit-for-tat move, India retains e-visa suspension for Canadians minister Deshmukh Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh was arrested by ED after over 12 hours of questioning at its office in Mumbai. He had appeared before the agency to record his statement around noon three days after the Bombay high court rejected his plea to cancel the agency’s summons in the money laundering case registered against him.

He had been evading questioning by the ED for months and had exhausted his legal remedies. In the last few months, the ED had raided several places to trace Deshmukh, but in vain. ED officials were also surprised with Deshmukh’s move as he appeared before them around noon along with his advocate. The investigating officer in the case started questioning Deshmukh just after his arrival at the ED office, and the agency’s additional director flew in from Delhi in the evening to supervise the process.

Earlier, the ED had arrested Deshmukh’s private secretary Sanjeev Palande and personal assistant Kundan Shinde for helping Deshmukh and his son Hrishikesh with money laundering.

The ED said Deshmukh, through Shinde, had collect-

Anil Deshmukh

ed £470,000 from (now-dismissed) assistant police inspector Sachin Waze in cash.

After Deshmukh appeared before the ED, his team released a pre-recorded video message. In it, he said ex-Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh made false allegations against him and had now fled the country. In the video, Deshmukh said, “I received ED summons, and the media wrongly reported that I was not cooperating with the investigation. Each time after ED summons, I replied to them stating my petition was pending before the High Court and Supreme Court, after it’s outcome I would present myself before the ED. Me, my family and our staff cooperated with ED during

the investigation. Earlier, on CBI summons, I went and gave my statement.”

Deshmukh also released an unsigned statement that ED should act in a fair manner.

“I am today appearing before the ED, let the truth prevail, Satyamev Jayate,” he said.

Deshmukh said on account of a “witch-hunt campaign” launched at the instance of vested interests, false allegations have been levelled by persons who have “no credibility, honour or pride.” He alleged these persons are themselves knee-deep in rackets of extortion, fraud and even murder. “The principal person, who held the high office of Mumbai police commissioner, is now wanted as an absconding criminal,” Deshmukh said.

Even as it relaxes travel norms for tourists from across the world, India has retained its suspension on the e-visa facility for Canadians in a retaliatory move for restrictions imposed

by Ottawa on Indians flying to Canada.

India recently announced that shortterm tourist visas for foreign nationals with a 30-day validity will be issued and these can be used to enter India beginning November 15, but Canada is among the handful of nations for which the facility remains blocked.

Almost every other nationality, barring some like those holding Pakistani passports, can apply for an e-visa, Canadians still don’t have that option.

A senior Indian official said “suspension remains in place for Canadians in response to the testing restrictions” that Canada continues to subject travellers from India to.

Canadian transport minister Omar Alghabra made a series of announcements in which he said that it was mandatory to be fully vacci-

nated to board a flight from Canada starting from October 30. He did not mention any relaxations for passengers arriving by air from India.

For those taking direct flights, they still only have the option of getting a mandatory negative RT-PCR test result from a single laboratory at the international airport in Delhi before being allowed to board for a Canada flight. For those flying via a third country, the stipulation is that they will have to obtain the necessary negative result at the point of departure, which is the country where the connecting flight is leaving from.

These restrictions came into place in September, even as Canada allowed direct flights from India, which had been suspended in April due to concerns over the surge in Delta-driven coronavirus cases in India.

While that ban was finally lifted on September 27, the Canadian Government put in place the restrictive testing regimen.

India extends ban on international flights till Nov 30 To deal with the ongoing Covid pandemic, India's civil aviation regulator extended the ban on scheduled international commercial flights till November 30. In the notification, the Directorate General of Central Aviation (DGCA), however, said: "This restriction shall not apply to international allcargo operations and flights specifically approved by the DGCA." It also said that scheduled international flights

might be allowed on selected routes on a case to case basis. The Central government had banned the operation of international flights on March 23 last year to con-

tain and control the spread of Covid-19.

Flight restrictions, however, were later eased under air bubble arrangement with certain countries. At present, India has formed air bubble pacts with about 28 countries. The country had been operating Vande Bharat flights to many countries over the last one year to evacuate stranded Indians.

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Thousands pay tributes to Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar Bengaluru: A sea of grieving fans poured into Bengaluru's Kanteerava Stadium last week to pay last respects to Kannada cinema's reigning star and celebrity television host Puneeth Rajkumar, whose death at 46 after a heart attack sent shockwaves across the country.

His last were performed with full state honours, state minister R Ashoka told reporters.

Videos showed the stadium packed wall-to-wall with thousands of fans.

A government order said his last rites will be performed at the Kanteerava Studio where his parents Dr Rajkumar and Parvathamma were cremated.

According to government sources, the last rites were performed on Sunday, as the family awaits the arrival of Puneeth Rajkumar's daughter, who lives abroad.

Known for films such as "Appu", "Veera Kannadiga" and

fans milled around the hospital complex as news came in of the sudden death of the actor, the son of much-loved matinee idol Rajkumar who fast outgrew his father's shadow to make a place for himself in the Kannada showbiz "Maurya", the actor known as "power star" died on Friday following a massive heart attack, hospital sources said. Rajkumar, who was known to be a fitness enthusiast, was rushed to Vikram Hospital after he complained of chest pain following a two-hour workout in the gym, doctors treating him said. He died shortly after. He is survived by his wife Ashwini Revanth and two daughters Dhriti and Vanditha.

Restless crowds of stunned

industry.

According to a statement from the Vikram Hospital earlier in the day, Puneeth was taken to the emergency department "... with history of chest pain, he was non-responsive... advanced cardiac resuscitation has been initiated".

Condolences at the death of the actor, who began his career as a child artist appearing in movies such as "Thayige Thakka Maga" and "Bhagyavantha", poured in from political leaders,

including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, colleagues in the southern film industry as well as those in Bollywood their messages echoing his legions of fans grieving the hero who had gone too soon.

Sharing a picture with the actor and his family, the prime minister said, "A cruel twist of fate has snatched away from us a prolific and talented actor, Puneeth Rajkumar. This was no age to go. The coming generations will remember him fondly for his works and personality. wonderful Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti."

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was among the first to condole the death. "A huge personal loss and one that's difficult to come to terms with.

Praying the almighty gives the Rajkumar family and fans the strength to bear this loss." he tweeted.

PUNJAB

No talks with Cong, says Captain as he gets ready to launch his party CHANDIGARH: Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has rubbished reports of "backend talks" with the Congress leadership to retain him in the party.

"Reports of backend talks with Congress are incorrect. The time for rapprochement is over.

I'm grateful to Sonia Gandhi ji for her support but will not stay in Congress now," Amarinder's aide Raveen Thukral quoted him as saying.

Following the former Chief Minister's announcement of launching a new party, a Chandigarh-based newspaper had recently reported that "senior Congress leaders are learned to be engaged in backend talks to persuade the former CM to stay in the party".

Thukral tweeted on behalf of the former Chief Minister

that he will soon launch his own party and will hold talks for seat-sharing with BJP, breakaway Akali factions & others for Punjab elections once the farmers' issue was resolved. "I want to build a strong collective force in the interest of Punjab & its farmers," he said.

Fearing a split in votes in the state ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, the newspaper reported Congress insiders as saying that the party didn't want Amarinder fielding candidates against Congress nominees as he is likely to attract disgruntled Congress leaders who were denied a ticket and could divide the party's prospective votes.

Captain Singh, while announcing his plans for a new party, had said that many

leaders were already in touch with him and that he'd reveal their names at an "opportune moment". He has also said that his new party plans to contest on all 117 assembly seats in Punjab and is discussing a seatsharing arrangement with the BJP. He said he is open to aligning with breakaway Akali groups to defeat the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Congress, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state.

War of words between Sidhu and Capt Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and Amarinder slugged it out in a Twitter duel. It began with Sidhu tweeting, “We the 78 MLAs of Congress, could never imagine, what we received - an arm-twisted, ED-controlled BJP loyal CM of Punjab Capt

Amarinder Singh

Amarinder… who sold the interests of Punjab to save his skin! Everyone knows you have colluded with Badals!” Sidhu tweeted, adding, “You’ll be remembered as Jaichand of Punjab’s political history. Last time you formed your own party, you lost your ballot, garnering only 856 votes.” “You do have the knack of putting your foot in your mouth Navjot Sidhu! The 856 votes you are mocking came even after I withdrew my nomination from Kharar since I’d won unopposed from Samana. So what does that show? Or are you too dumb to understand,” Amarinder was quoted in a tweet by his adviser Raveen Thukral.

WEST BENGAL

West Bengal eases Covid-19 restrictions ahead of festivities KOLKATA: The West Bengal government last week extended Covid-19 restrictions till November 30 with additional relaxations, one of them being permission for local trains to operate at 50 per cent seating capacity - almost six months after services were stopped to check the spread of the disease.

The administration also allowed movement of people and vehicles between 11 pm to 5 am from November 2 to 5 for Kali Puja festivities, an official order said.

It granted similar relaxations for Chhat Puja on November 10 and 11.

According to the order, cinema halls, theatre halls, auditoriums, shopping malls,

markets, spa, gyms will be allowed to function at 70 per cent capacity from October 31, but not beyond 11 pm. "Interstate local train movement may operate with 50 per cent of seating capacity. All government offices related to non-emergency and non-essential services shall now function with 50 per cent of their total strength (sic)," the order said. Schools for Classes 9 to 12, colleges and universities will open from November 16, following standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the government, it maintained.

430 booked for not wearing masks The Police have stepped up vigil related to Covid-19

protocols across Kolkata city, especially to check whether people are wearing face masks.

Police personnel have also been distributing masks and alerting people to maintain Covid protocols. A total of 430 people have been booked and prosecuted for not using face mask in last 24 hours, police said.

As many as 68 people have been booked and prosecuted for spitting in a public place. “Mask is compulsory, each one of us should wear mask. Because of the carelessness of a few, everyone cannot suffer. Once we are fully vaccinated we will be safe,” said Firhad Hakim, chairman of the KMC board of administrators.

in brief KARNATAKA MAY PUT CHURCH SURVEY ON BACK BURNER The proposal by the Karnataka government to survey churches and Bible societies to weed out unauthorised churches and curb forced religious conversion is apparently being quietly buried with the government going slow following strong criticism. On October 13, the legislature committee on the welfare of backward classes and minorities had asked deputy commissioners of districts to undertake the survey. The panel, supposed to meet couldn't proceed for want of quorum.

At least nine of the 20 members have to be present but only five turned up. Officials said the survey has been put on the back burner.

The panel's tenure will expire on November 9, following which Speaker Visheshwar Hegde Kageri is expected to constitute a new committee by mid-November. Officials said the survey cannot be conducted since it goes against the constitutional provision of freedom of religion.

STALIN'S MOVE TO CHANGE TAMIL NADU DAY DATE FLAYED The opposition AIADMK slammed Chief Minister M K Stalin's announcement on changing the Tamil Nadu Day from November 1 to July 18, saying it smacked of ''political vendetta'' and dubbed it as an ''unsuitable move''. Reversing the previous AIADMK government's decision, Stalin had said the state's Formation Day will henceforth be celebrated on July 18, in lines with the rechristening of its name to the present one on that day and not on November 1. AIADMK Coordinator O Panneerselvam said a child's birthday falls on the day it is born and not when it is given a name, referring to the ruling DMK's decision to alter the state's formation day in lines with it getting the present name, i.e.

Tamil Nadu.

GURU NANAK GURPURB CELEBRATIONS Preparations are underway to celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak at Gurdwara Janam Asthan Sri Nankana Sahib in Pakistan between November 17 and 27. The birth date falls on November 19. A meeting of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (PSGPC) and Evacuee Trust Property Board officials was held in Lahore to review the arrangements. PSGPC president Ameer Singh said Sikh community from all over the world would be facilitated during the event with excellent arrangements in all gurdwaras. “The Covid health protocol has to be followed by the pilgrims. We will welcome a ‘jatha’ from India at the Attari-Wagah border on November 17. From there, the pilgrims will be ferried to Sri Nankana Sahib,” he said.

BJP'S RAJIB BANERJEE REJOINS TRINAMOOL BJP leader and former minister in the Mamata Banerjee government Rajib Banerjee rejoined the ruling Trinamool Congress. Rajib was reinducted into the party along with Ashish Das, a former BJP leader from Tripura, at a public meeting of the party's general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in the hill state.

The meeting was attended by another new TMC inductee and in-charge of the party's affairs in the northeast, Sushmita Dev, and other senior leaders. Tripura is one of the states where the Mamate Banerjee-led party has set its eyes on as part of its expansion plans to create a platform for a larger national role with the TMC supremo having made her ambitions clear. The former minister had switched over to the saffron camp months ahead of the Assembly election in Bengal.

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India’s integrity is unbreakable, says Amit Shah The Statue of Unity, which honours Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s contribution in making of modern India, has sent out a message to the world that India has a bright future and no one can dare to fracture the country’s unity and integrity, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Sunday.

In Kevadia to commemorate the 146th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel on National Unity Day, Shah said the Iron Man’s vision will continue to inspire generations to come and help India prosper. Shah also slammed the opposition, saying that efforts were made to obliterate Sardar Patel’s mammoth efforts to unite India from several princely states

Amit Shah

after Independence.

“It is unfortunate that efforts were made to forget Sardar Saheb.

After Independence, his contributions were never given due respect and place. He was not conferred

the Bharat Ratna. But it is said, how long can clouds keep the sun hidden,” he said.

Shah said that Kevadia has become “a pilgrimage of India's unity, nationality, and patriotism.”

Invoking Chanakya, who consolidated the Maurya empire, the home minister said, “At one time, Acharya Chanakya united India.

Centuries later, Sardar Saheb united India. It is the result of this that the country is today proudly strengthening its place in the world. A leader like Sardar Patel is born once in centuries and inspires people for centuries” he

said.

India capable of dealing with all challenges: Modi Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that India is capable of dealing with all kinds of challenges, both external and internal inspired by the ideals of India’s first deputy PM and home minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

“Sardar Patel always wanted a strong, inclusive, sensitive, alert, humble and developed India. He always put the interest of the country first. Under his inspiration, India is becoming fully capable of dealing with all kinds of challenges, both external and internal. In the last seven years, the country has got rid of the

decades-old archaic laws and has given new heights to the ideals that cherish national unity,” Modi said on Sunday in his address through video conferencing on Patel’s 146th birth anniversary.

“The construction of modern infrastructure in the country is removing the geographical and cultural distances in the country.

If the people of the country have to think a hundred times before moving from one part to another, then how will it work? When there will be ease of reaching every nook and corner of the country, then the distance of hearts between people will also be bridged and the unity of the country will be strengthened,” the PM said.

In strong signal to China, India tests 5,000-km range Agni-V In a strong strategic signal to China amidst the continuing 17-month military confrontation in eastern Ladakh, India tested its most formidable missile, the over 5,000-km range AgniV, last week. The “successful test” of the Agni-V, which brings even the northernmost part of China within its strike envelope, is in line with India’s stated policy to have “credible minimum deterrence that underpins the commitment to no firstuse (NFU)”, said the defence ministry.

“The missile, which uses

a three-stage solid fuelled engine, is capable of striking targets at ranges up to 5,000 km with a very high degree of accuracy. It was tested for its entire range. The launch went off very well,” said an official. The test was significant on two counts. One, it was the first “user-launch” of India's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by the tri-Services Strategic Forces Command (SFC) after its induction into the armed forces. Two, this is the first time the missile, which has been tested seven times earlier, was launched

during night.

The missile with a 1.5tonne warhead was launched from the APJ Abdul Kalam Island, off the Odisha coast, at about 7.50 pm. Flying at 24 times the speed of sound, the missile’s trajectory and flight parameters were constantly monitored by radars, electro-optical tracking systems, telemetry stations and ships before it splashed down in the Bay of Bengal, said the official.

DRDO is also working to develop `multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles' (MIRVs) for the

Agni missiles but it will take at least another two years for the multiple-warhead capability to be tested. An MIRV payload basically involves a single missile carrying four to six nuclear each prowarheads, grammed to hit a separate target.

The existing single-warhead Agni-V in itself adds teeth to the deterrence posture against China, which has missiles like the Dong Feng-41 (12,000-15,000-km) that can hit any Indian city.

China has also recently gone in for a huge expansion in

Army, IAF launch major drill in eastern Ladakh The Army and the IAF on Monday kicked off a major “airborne insertion and combat” exercise along the frontier with China in eastern Ladakh, which will see paratroopers practise capturing territory “behind enemy lines” and then “link up” with their advancing tanks, while attack helicopters destroy hostile mechanised forces.

The three-day exercise, with hundreds of pre-acclimatised troops and heavy weapon systems at an altitude of over 14,000 ft and -20°C is meant to convey yet another “clear message” to China after the Agni-V missile test last week to “desist from any misadventures along the northern borders”, said sources.

The combat manoeuvres come amid the deadlock in the 18-month military confrontation in eastern Ladakh, with China refusing to even complete the stalled troop disengage-

ment at Patrolling Point-15 in the Hot Springs-Gogra-Kongka La area at the 13th round of corps commander-level talks on October 10.

With any de-escalation in the much more intractable faceoffs at Charding Ninglung Nallah track junction at Demchok and the strategically-located Depsang Plains also not on the horizon, India and China are set to keep their 50,000 troops each along with tanks, howitzers and surface-toair missile systems forward deployed for the second consecutive winter in the harsh high-altitude area.

“If they (People’s Liberation Army) are there to stay, we are there to stay, too,” Army chief General M M Naravane had recently said.

The Indian exercise began on Monday with over 200 para-special force soldiers from the Agra-based Shatrujeet Brigade, along with specialist vehicles, missile detachments

and other heavy loads, being inserted into the “drop zone” in eastern Ladakh by C-130J Super Hercules and AN-32 aircraft from five different “mounting bases” in the country.

“The aim was to validate rapid response capabilities, inter-theatre move, precision standoff drops, rapid grouping and capture of designated objectives with speed and surprise.

The air-drop was particularly challenging due to the sub-zero temperatures and rarefied atmosphere in the super high-altitude terrain,” said a source. Over the next two days, the paratroopers will “hold” the captured territory in the simulated exercise, while ‘enemy tanks’ are neutralised by attack helicopters like the newlyinducted Apaches. “Friendly” mainbattle tanks and infantry combat vehicles, in turn, will move forward to link up with the paratroopers holding ground.

Proposals worth £796.5 mn cleared for armed forces modernisation The Defence ministry approved the procurement of arms and military equipment worth £796.5 million, including 12 light utility helicopters from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, according to an official statement. The procurement proposals were approved at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the ministry’s highest decision-making body on the matter.

Besides clearing the proposal to buy 12 helicopters, the DAC approved the procurement of Lynx U2 naval gunfire control system from Bharat Electronics Limited that will enhance the tracking and engagement capabilities of naval warships, the ministry’s statement said.

The DAC also approved “mid-life

upgradation of Dornier aircraft” by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to increase the naval capacity of maritime reconnaissance and coastal surveillance, it mentioned. “As a further impetus to ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ (selfreliant India), a global procurement case of naval guns has been foreclosed with these guns’ quantity added to the upgraded super rapid gun mount (SRGM) being manufactured by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL),” it noted.

These SRGMs provide niche capabilities of engaging fast manoeuvring targets using guided munitions and range extensions, and are to be fitted on the warships of the Indian Navy, the

statement said.

“The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), in its meeting of November 2, 2021, held under the chairmanship of Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh, accorded Acceptance of Necessity for capital acquisition proposals for modernisation and operational needs of the armed forces amounting to £796.5 million,” it noted.

All these proposals are under ‘Make in India’ with a focus on design, development and manufacturing in the country, according to the statement.

The military equipment are being procured at a time the Indian armed forces are locked in a bitter border row with China in eastern Ladakh.

new missile silo fields for launching nuclear-tipped ICBMs. As per the latest assessment of the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI), China now possesses 350 nuclear warheads and Pakistan165, as compared to156 of India. But India remains confident of its credible minimum deterrence. The Agni-V is operationally better than the earlier Agni variants because it is a canister-launch missile to ensure lesser maintenance as well as swifter transportation and firing.

The test of the 17-metre

tall Agni-V test comes after a new generation two-stage missile called Agni-Prime, with a strike range of 1,500km, was tested on June 28.

The Agni-Prime, also a canister-launch missile, will eventually replace the Agni-I (700-km) missiles in the arsenal of the SFC, which also has the Prithvi-II (350km), Agni-II (2,000-km) and Agni-III (3,000-km) missile units.

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PM Modi invites Pope Francis to visit India Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday, where Modi invited the head of the Roman Catholic Church to visit India and the two leaders discussed the future of a post-Covid world and climate change among other issues at a meeting that went on for an hour beyond the scheduled 20 minutes.

Reports from Rome said the Pope accepted the invitation and if he does travel to India, it will mark the first papal visit after 1999 when the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the PM. The discussion and invitation are significant as they come against the backdrop of a heated debate over conversions between the right wing and church organisations in India and in the light of several BJP-

Narendra Modi met Pope Francis

governed states passing laws in this regard.

The meeting between Modi and the Pope will also be seen in

PM Modi, EU leaders talk trade, climate PM Narendra Modi kicked off his engagements in Italy on Friday last with a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the sidelines of the 16th G20 Summit in Rome.

During the meeting, leaders of India and the EU reviewed IndiaEU cooperation covering political and security relations, trade and investment and economic cooperation as well as the Roadmap 2025 agreed at the last India-EU Summit, said the government in a statement. They also discussed climate change, Covid-19 pandemic and contemporary global and regional developments of interest to both sides.

According to Indian authorities, EU leaders also congratulated India for its excellent progress on vaccination.

This was Modi’s first official engagement after he arrived in Italy to participate in the G20 Summit where he will join other leaders in discussions on global economic and health recovery from Covid-19, sustainable development and climate change. “Official engagements in Rome begin with a productive interaction with @eucopresident Charles Michel and @vonderleyen, President of the @EU_Commission. The leaders discussed ways to enhance economic as well as people-to-people linkages aimed at creating a better planet,” the prime minister’s office said in a tweet.

After the meeting, European Commission President Leyen said it was “good to meet” PM Modi. “Good to meet @narendramodi. Our strategic agenda is on the right track. We agreed that our trade

negotiators will start to work. We'll deepen our cooperation on climate, including on innovation & technology. Looking forward to cooperating in the Indo-Pacific #EUGlobalGateway,” she said on twitter.

Michel said in a tweet the two sides discussed global health and “fighting the pandemic, the strong EU-India Strategic Partnership, the situation in Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific”. The 15th India-EU summit, held in virtual mode in July 2020, was attended by PM Modi, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen.

In 2020, India was the EU’s 10th largest trading partner accounting for 1.8% of EU’s total bilateral trade in goods. India-EU bilateral trade in goods in 2020 was valued at 65.30 billion euros. India-EU bilateral relations date back to the early 1960s with India being amongst the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community in 1962.

The first India-EU Summit took place on 28 June, 2000, in Lisbon. The relationship was upgraded to a ‘Strategic Partnership’ during the 5th India-EU Summit held in 2004 in The Hague.

Oz recognises Covaxin, will allow visitors jabbed with it Australia will recognise Covaxin, apart from Covishield, allowing those vaccinated with them entry into the continent. Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked his Australian counterpart and “dear friend” Scott Morrison for “recognition of India’s Covaxin”. “It is an important step forward in the post-Covid partnership between India and Australia,” he said.

While WHO emergency use listing for Covaxin is awaited, 16 countries have recognised it for travel purposes. Last week, the US Centres for Disease Control eased restrictions for Covaxin-vaccinated travellers by allowing trial participants to enter without having to quarantine.

Australia’s high commissioner to India Barry O’Farrell tweeted that the country’s drug regulator has “determined that Covaxin (manufactured by Bharat Biotech) vaccine

would be ‘recognised’ for the purpose of establishing a traveller’s vaccination status.

Importantly, recognition of Covaxin, along with the previously announced recognition of Covishield (manufactured by AstraZeneca), means many Indian citizens, as well as other countries, will now be considered fully vaccinated on entry to Australia.”

The Australian health ministry website says the “recognition is for travellers aged 12 and over who have been vaccinated with Covaxin.” Those who have received two doses of Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration-approved or recognised vaccine at least 14 days apart are regarded as fully vaccinated from seven days after the second dose. This includes homologous (two doses of the same vaccine) and heterologous (two doses of two different vaccines) schedules.

the context of reports by Western agencies, both government and private, that religious freedom had declined in India and the government’s contention that its policies, which include several welfare measures, do not discriminate against any section.

The private meeting at the Apostolic Palace was described in a Vatican statement as a “brief” conversation. This was the first visit by an Indian PM to the Vatican in over two decades, the last being Vajpayee in 1999 when Pope John Paul II came to India.

Official sources said PM Modi has made the effort to connect with the Christian community. In February 2015, he addressed the celebration of the elevation to sainthood of Kuriakose Elias

Chavara and Mother Euphrasia.

He also attended the 90th birth anniversary celebrations of Joseph Mar Thoma on June 27, 2020.

The sources said Modi has taken up issues in his Mann Ki Baat as well, where he spoke of India handing over the holy relic or icon of Saint Queen Ketevan to Georgia by the foreign minister himself. “The ceremony, which took place in a very emotionally charged atmosphere, was attended by the President of Georgia, the Prime Minister, many religious leaders, and a large number of Georgians,” Modi had said. The Prime Minister has regularly spoken of the message of Christ in his radio talks and also dwelt on the legacy of people like Mother Teresa.”

Will produce 5bn vax doses for India, world by 2022-end: PM Modi India will produce over five billion doses of Covid vaccines for the country and the world by the end of 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at the G-20 Summit in Rome, where the grouping met to discuss, among other issues, developments related to the global pandemic.

Addressing the Summit’s first session on global economy and health, Modi pointed to WHO’s delay in granting emergency use authorisation to India’s Covaxin an acknowledgement at the highest levels of the Indian government that the world health body’s delay tactics may have reasons other than technical inquiries. The big

promise on vaccines is seen as a effort to leverage India’s vaccine development capacity to earn friends abroad and present India as a willing and responsible partner in efforts to contain the pandemic.

Briefing journalists, foreign secretary Harsh Shringla said Modi told the G-20 that the WHO’s approval to Covaxin would go a long way in fulfilling India’s commitments because the vaccine would help the developing world reduce the current inequity.

Currently, supply and access to vaccines are largely located in the developed world. Modi also pushed for recognition of vaccine certificates to facilitate

international travel to move the world towards normalcy.

Shringla said Modi highlighted the fact that has extended India assistance to about 150 countries during the pandemic. He also invited G-20 nations to make India “their partner in economic recovery, supply chain diversification”.

On Sunday Modi joined US President Joe Biden’s programme on supply chain resilience. He also had a meeting with PM of Spain.

Modi on Saturday had two formal bilateral meetings with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore.

SC rejects govt's Pegasus denial, orders probe into snooping charges The Supreme Court directed a probe into the Pegasus snooping controversy by a three-member expert committee under the supervision of former apex court judge R V Raveendran, holding that a "prima facie case" is made out for an investigation in the light of the Centre’s "omnibus and vague denial" of the alleged surveillance and the need to uncover the truth of the accusations.

A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli also brushed aside the contention of the government that it should not interfere in the issue as national security is involved.

The court said though the Centre may decline to provide information when constitutional considerations exist, such as those pertaining to the country’s security, this did not mean "... the State gets a free pass every time the spectre of ‘national security’ is raised".

CJI Ramana, who penned the judgment, said, "It is a settled position of law

that in matters pertaining to national security, scope of judicial review is limited."

However, this does not mean that the State gets a free pass every time the spectre of national security is raised. National security cannot be the bugbear that the judiciary shies away from, by virtue of its mere mentioning. Although this court should be circumspect in encroaching upon the domain of national security, no omnibus prohibition can be called for against judicial review,” CJI Ramana said in the judgment.

“The Union of India must necessarily plead and prove the facts which indicate that the information sought must be

kept secret as their divulgence would affect national security concerns.

They must justify the stand that they take before a court.

The mere invocation of national security by the State does not render the court a mute spectator," it said. The court pointed out that the right to privacy is "directly infringed" when there is surveillance or spying done by the State and if done by the State, it must be justified on constitutional grounds. The SC had during the hearing made it clear to the government on several occasions that it would not push the Centre to provide any information that may affect the security concerns of the country.

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HEALTH

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27

6 - 12 November 2021

4 habits that increase the chances of a stroke The world observed World Stroke Day on October 29.

The day is focused on spreading awareness of stroke symptoms with a campaign that aims to highlight what can be saved if we all know the signs of stroke.

The World Health Organization states one in four people are at risk of stroke in their lifetime, and is the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability.

A stroke occurs when the blood supply to a certain part of the brain is interrupted or reduced. It prevents brain tissue from receiving vital nutrients and oxygen causing the cells to die. Dr PK Hazra, Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, AMRI, Kolkata, was quoted in a report as saying, “Several factors can increase a per-

son’s chance of stroke including being overweight or obese, physical inactivity, heavy drinking, use of drugs, cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obstructive sleep apnoea, cardiovascular diseases such as abnormal heart rhythm, heart failure and family history of stroke.

Other factors like age, race, gender, and hormones also become causes of stroke at times.”

A person’s lifestyle

choices and habits may impact their risk of stroke. There are certain habits that may be increasing your chances of getting a stroke.

High-salt diet: People who consume a high-salt diet or diets rich in saturated fats, trans fat, and cholesterol are at high risk of stroke and heart disease. Eating a lot of packaged and canned stuff can increase stroke risk due to high salt and nitrate preservatives. Managing salt intake can reduce stroke risk by 30 per cent.

Inactive lifestyle: A sedentary lifestyle and obesity are prominent stroke risk factors. They cause an increase in other health conditions including obesity,

high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes which further increase the risk of stroke. Regular physical activity can lower your chances of stroke.

Alcohol: Drinking too much alcohol can raise blood pressure levels and the risk for stroke. It also increases levels of triglycerides, a form of fat in your blood that can harden your arteries.

Smoking / tobacco consumption: This is the major lifestyle risk factor for stroke. Cigarette smoking can damage the heart and blood vessels, increasing your risk for stroke. The nicotine in cigarettes raises blood pressure, and the carmonoxide from bon cigarette smoke reduces the amount of oxygen that your blood can carry.

Workout and nutrition tricks to get rid of back fat The coronavirus pandemic has pushed most of us into a sedentary lifestyle. Add an imbalance diet to that and we end up packing in more pounds. While belly fat is easily noticed, back fat is just as unhealthy and stubborn. Moreover, it is usually also the byproduct of a faulty posture.

To firm up your back, one needs to decrease their overall body fat. Half of the battle is to reduce body fat

through a diet that creates a calorie deficit. It occurs when a person consumes fewer calories than they require to maintain their current body mass.

A person can create a calorie deficit through a combination of decreasing daily calorie intake through food and drink and expending caloric energy through exercise and other physical activity. Nutrient-rich foods include vegetables, includ-

ing leafy greens, starchy vegetables, and different coloured fruits, such as apples and berries, lean protein like poultry, fish, and lean cuts of meat beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, whole grains, including brown rice, quinoa, and whole grain bread and pasta, healthy fats, such as oily fish, avocados, and olives.

The other half is to focus on strengthening exercise which will help you shape the muscles in the upper, middle, and lower back. If you build strong, tight shoulders, the area of your back beneath the shoulders starts to look smaller. Midback exercises can make the wing-shaped muscles tighter and stronger.

A guide to eating healthy this Diwali The countdown to Diwali has just begun and preparations are in full order. From decorations to planning Diwali parties, the festive season is upon us. It is important to pay attention to what we are eating, especially calorie-laden desserts that could increase our chances of multiple health problems.

Senior Nutrition Therapist, Fortis Hospital, Mulundm Minal Shah was quoted in a report as saying, “Healthy and dessert do seem like contrasting words.

Healthy is usually something that is low in fats or low in simple sugars or full of natural vitamins and/or minerals. Desserts on the other hand are calorie-dense and expected to be sweet. But with a bit of modification our desserts can be made healthy and guilt-free.”

So how to handle your cravings this year?

Pick milk-based desserts: Milk is a good source of first-class protein, and desserts like Shrikhand, Sandesh, Mishti

vitamins or Moong Dal Sheera which has protein, is better than Rava Sheera.

Add healthy ingredients: Try new, unconventional recipes like Dates Sesame Ladoo, Oats Dates Nut Ladoo, Walnut Ladoo, Dudhi Kheer, Apple Halwa, etc.

Weigh the portion size: Control the portions you eat. This way, you not only eat what you like, you also reduce the calorie intake.

Doi, Kheer, etc, can be easily made at home.

Replace sugar with natural sweeteners: Replacing sugar with sweetening alternatives like jaggery, dates, or honey, can make consuming sweets guilty free.

Pick a healthier option: There is always a healthier option when it comes to sweets. For e.g., Badam Katli is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and a better alternative to Kaju Katli.

Besan or Peanut Ladoo has monounsaturated fatty acids, which make them better than Rava Ladoo.

Carrot or Dudhi Halwa are full of antioxidants and

Avoid Drama in your life with these tips Psychologist Mamta Saha Dear readers, do you feel like trouble follows you everywhere?

If you feel like there is drama everywhere in your life, take a step back and be honest with yourself. Ask yourself whether you crave it or attract it? Feeding it? I have learnt that as humans we don’t do anything repeatedly unless there’s something in it for us, so, what’s the payoff?

Re-evaluate the situation before you react A lot of drama can take place in our minds, and we tend to make it our reality. Be fully present. It is hard to hold your tongue when you come up with a brilliant zinger in the heat of the moment. Learn to listen and observe before you jump in, especially if the interaction or conversation becomes reactive and emotional.

What kind of people are you attracted to and who do you draw into your life?

If someone repeatedly comes to you with gossip, give yourself a window of time when you’ll just listen, and then take care of yourself by walking away without getting involved. Often people calm themselves down when others don’t join into the complaints and drama. The goal is to minimize people who bring drama to your life.

Finally ask yourself, is there something I can learn from this?

Look for the lesson, not the feeling. Our lives will always have mini fires that we feel desperate to put out. If we can learn not to spread the fire, then may actually be able to light our way in life.

Is this something that you can relate to? I would love to know how you avoided drama in your lives. Head to my website www.mamtasaha.com and sign up for my Emotionally Stronger workshop and newsletter. Follow me on Instagram (saha_mamta) and Facebook (Mamta Saha) for more wisdom. Stay in touch and I look forward to hearing from you! Good luck dearest readers.

Survivors of childhood cancer may face higher suicide risk Survivors of childhood cancer have increased risks of experiencing various challenges, such as emotional distress, and financial burdens, according to a new study.

Findings of a research, which were published in ‘CANCER’, has indicated that many long-term survivors of childhood cancer may also face an elevated risk of suicide, although their absolute risk is still low.

The relatively limited data on suicide in survivors of childhood cancer have been inconsistent, though they have generally suggested that suicide rates in these individuals are low.

The team identified 49,836 childhood cancer survivors and 79 suicides, and there was approximately 1 suicide per 10,000 people per year. This rate was similar to the rate seen in the general US population. Justin Barnes, MD, MS, of Washington University said, “Our findings raise crucial questions about what can be done to prevent suicide in vulnerable long-term adult survivors of childhood cancer. Such strategies may include improving efforts to screen for distress and betteremploying survivorship care with a multidisciplinary team.”

Dr Barnes noted that additional research is needed to study the underlying reasons and risk factors for suicides in these individuals. He said, “These might include a history of depression, psychiatric comorbidities, persistent pain, socioeconomic stressors, and cancer treatment specifics, all of which we were unable to evaluate in our study,”

Eat this fruit every day to prevent diabetes, arthritis and heart disease One of the most nutrient-rich fruits, Pomegranate is heavy in phytochemical, antioxidants, and Vitamin C. This fruit has been known for its medicinal properties for over a thousand years.

Pomegranate’s anti-inflammatory properties can benefit arthritis patients, according to studies, while its juice can help improve blood flow and prevent arteries from becoming stiff and thick. From controlling blood sugar level, blood pressure, boosting immunity, digestion, to enriching memory, pomegranate is indeed a wonder fruit that could prove to be a great addition to your daily diet.

inflammatory foods.

Some of the benefits of this wonIt removes free radicals, protects der fruit are: cells from damage, and reduces inflamRelieves excessive thirst and burnmation.In addition to antioxidants, ing sensation. pomegranates are a good source of It helps digestion easily. fibre, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin K It’s astringent taste helps relieve and potassium. One pomegranate supdiarrhoea, IBS & ulcerative colitis. plies one-quarter of a day's worth of It improves intelligence, immunity folate and one-third of your daily vitaand body strength. min C. It is good for the heart and reduces It helps reduce insulin resistance hypertension and cholesterol. and lower blood sugar.

Has three times more antioxidants than red wine To Our Readers and green tea.

We are publishing these reports in good faith. Before you Hence it is one of try any of these remedies, please consult the doctor. We the best antiare not responsible for any adverse effects.- Editor

28

ART & CULTURE

AsianVoiceNews

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

6 - 12 November 2021

‘Patriarchy holds us to an altogether different standard!’

Shefali Saxena Zainab Hasan is currently starring in Rice, a co-production with Actors Touring Company and Orange Tree Theatre until 13 November. The play will be live-streamed on the 4 &5 Nov at 7.30pm and can be viewed online On Demand from 16 – 19 November. Hasan plays the role of Nisha, a young hotshot executive working for Golden Fields, Australia’s largest producer of rice. Ambitious and headstrong, she’s determined to become the first female Indian CEO in Australia. She’s close to sealing a contract with the Indian government, which would see her company take over India’s national rice distribution system.

In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, Zainab Hasan spoke about being an actor in the post-pandemic world and more. hat is it like being an actor in the postpandemic world?

It’s definitely a challenge being an actor in a post pandemic world. Whilst working on projects we still have to keep safe, but it’s a challenge because so much of being an actor is about nurturing relationships, and making intimate connections with the individuals you work with, so that’s definitely harder. But it feels good to be doing what I love and to tell this beautiful story, and so that’s what I try to focus on. hat are the challenges of being a female actor, finding work and sustaining in the arts sector when women are not well represented?

It’s hard. Really hard. I make no bones about it. Patriarchy holds us to an altogether different standard! Add race, class, age, disability, sexuality into the mix and you become a minority within a minority. None of it is easy. If your class position and your material conditions are such that you don’t have money to fall back on, it’s completely unsustainable, because there is no safety net. I still live at home with my parents, as it’s the only way I can still do this. But I choose to do what I do, because I love what I do. ou are currently starring in Rice, a play about a young hot shot Indian executive.

What drew you to the role of Nisha and how does the character resonate with you?

I took this job because I’ve never seen two women like this on stage together before. I took it for the craft. To stretch the Actress in me. It’s a challenge unlike any I’ve had. And I took it to do meaningful, important work. I think my character Nisha is an interesting one, because on the surface

W

she can come across as someone full of hubris and quite mean, but actually she’s vulnerable underneath. Her life is quite complex. She feels like she has a lot to prove

Zainab Hasan

and live up to. She has this veneer of privilege, and whilst in some ways she is, in other ways she really isn’t. I find it interesting to play characters that are complex, which of course she is.

Add race, class, age, disability, sexuality into the mix and you become a minority within a minority”

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Y

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hat do you hope audiences will take away from seeing the show?

Ultimately I hope audiences can celebrate these two women. I hope they enjoy it.

For more information please go to https://orangetreetheatre.co.uk/whatson/rice

What does the Budget say?

England’s culture sector is to receive £850 million funding to restore and upgrade locations including the Tate, V&A, the Imperial War Museum and the British Museum, it has been announced by the Treasury.

The Treasury has already committed to almost £26bn of spending in total before tomorrow’s budget and spending review. Ahead of the announcement, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to unveil the three year investment to redevelop and refurbish sites, though a full breakdown of recipients – including regional museums – is yet to be announced.

Breakdown of £850mn - £300m for arm’s-length body estate

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maintenance, which covers national museums, galleries and cultural bodies £135m Cultural Investment Fund to support regional museums and libraries, the York Railway Museum and Coventry UK City of Culture £125m for construction of Natural History Museum research centre at Harwell in Oxfordshire £42m to continue the High Street Heritage Action Zones £14m to continue to move museum collection items from Blythe House and into modern storage £169m core ALB (arm’s length bodies) capital grants, including for investment in sport and cultural assets and protecting heritage at risk.

The influence of Netflix on languages across the world In recent times, we are seeing an increase in the number of different TV shows and movies shown on Netflix in different languages. Korea based show Squid Game has excelled and received 111 million views worldwide to become the most-watched Netflix show in history.

Spanish shows such as Money Heist and Elite are popular on the streaming channel, and let's not forget the Queen's Gambit that was shown in English, Russian, French and Spanish.

Netflix offering a wide selection of international films and TV shows is a huge step towards the democratisation of content and the creation of global and multipolar culture, far from the monopoly of big Hollywood studios. It’s also giving opportunities to young and independent creators from across the world with the opening of different hubs in specific markets; a strategy that aims to foster local content and multiculturality.

So how much has the use of different languages on Netflix changed?

With films, Spanish has seen the biggest increase from 2020 to 2021. In 2020, 8.5% of Netflix films were spoken in Spanish compared to 12.1% in 2021. French movies have seen an increase of 0.4% over the past year; in 2020 5.7% of films were french, this is now at 6.1%. Another notable language is Russian which is currently at 9.1%. The

English language continues to dominate Netflix movies, with an increase of 0.6%, from 2020 to 2021, making the number of films in English at 57.6%.

When it comes to Netflix shows, the results differ slightly. English is still at the top, with 56% (+5.1%) of shows spoken in this language. Surprisingly, Spanish has seen a decrease in the number of shows spoken in this language, going from 22.2% in 2020, to 20% in 2021. However, Spanish continues to occupy the second position and with popular shows such as Money Heist, Elite, Who Killed Sara and Yo Soy Betty La Fea it's no surprise it's remained there.

Shows aired in French have increased by 0.6%. Similarly, Korea based shows have increased from 3.7% to 4%. Although not in the top languages, the TV show Dark put the German language in the limelight for several weeks.

Muslims were tolerant of homosexuality in history While the Middle East has always been averse to the idea and concept of homosexuality, a recent report in The Economist suggested that there is proof of homosexuality being embraced in the region in history.

The report said, “...activists can point to periods of the Islamic past when Arab rulers were more liberal about sex. They

relate how the Caliph Amin in ninthcentury Baghdad had a male lover and feted gay poets. They read poems from a classical genre called mujun, or hedonistic smut.

And they recall that the Ottoman Turks, who ruled most of the Middle East in the 19th century, decriminalised homosexuality a century before America and Britain.”

Carnival of Shadows: The beginning of a third decade of storytelling One of the most celebrated and highly regarded dance companies today, Akram Khan Company presents a programme of works to mark the Company’s third decade of storytelling in Akram Khan’s 16th year as a Sadler’s Wells Associate Artist.

Carnival of Shadows includes the UK premiere of his latest work, Outwitting the Devil; Khan’s final UK performances of his award-winning solo, XENOS; and a dance theatre production adapted for young audiences inspired by XENOS; Chotto Xenos, in the Lilian Baylis Studio.

Breathless Puppets, a powerful short film choreographed by Khan and directed

by Naaman Azhari, is available to watch on Sadler’s Wells Digital Stage from Monday 15 November. The film was created as part of Manchester International Festival’s set of film projects Postcards From Now. Opening the in-person programme and presenting from Tuesday 23 - Saturday 27 November at Sadler’s Wells Theatre is Akram Khan Company’s newest ensemble piece, Outwitting the Devil (2019).

Combining classical and

contemporary influences, Khan explores our oldest rituals in the context of our ever-changing planet.

In 2019, Khan received the Laurence Olivier award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for his performance of XENOS. He returns to Sadler’s Wells Theatre from Tuesday 30 November - Saturday 4 December to present his last ever UK performances of this critically acclaimed full-length solo.

Interweaving themes from XENOS and reimagined by theatre director Sue Buckmaster, Chotto Xenos presents at the Lilian Baylis Studio on Thursday 2 & Friday 3 December. The work explores the often forgotten and untold stories of World War 1 colonial soldiers and is suitable for ages 7+.

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BOLLYWOOD 29

AsianVoiceNewsweekly

6 - 12 November 2021

Janhvi says ‘Helen’ remake broke her physically and mentally Actor Janhvi Kapoor who is currently shooting for the Hindi remake of Malayalam film ‘Helen’, said the schedule broke her physically and mentally. However, she also feels that if she doesn’t feel absolutely exhausted and drained by a filming schedule, then perhaps she hasn’t given it everything.

Speaking in an interview, Jahnvi said, “I think I’m a very hardworking and sincere actor.

If nothing else, I try to be as honest an actor as possible. Sometimes I feel like if I’m not feeling completely exhausted, drained and broken after a schedule then maybe I haven’t given it my everything. And I think that’s something I’m learning from the film I’m doing right now. We had one schedule which, I think, broke me physically and mentally. And the schedule that I am on right now feels like a holiday.”

She added, “I am shooting for the remake of this Malayalam film called Helen. And I love working with Mathu sir (Helen director Mathukutty Xavier). He just makes life so easy, which is why I’m like, ‘I’m not suffering enough’. I feel like I need to inflict some amount of anxiety on myself to feel like I’ve delivered, which isn’t always necessary I think.”

Anushka is “WhatsApp Uncle”, wishes fans 'good morning' Actor Anushka Sharma greeted her fans with a stunning picture of the sunrise, calling herself “WhatsApp Uncle”.

Anushka is currently in the UAE with her cricketer husband for the T20 World Cup. Sharing a picture of the city skyline, Anushka wrote on Instagram Stories, “I’m your WhatsApp uncle wishing you good morning every day!”

Anushka has been regularly giving glimpses of her stay in the UAE. She recently shared a video of her dancing to rapper Badshah’s new song ‘Jugnu’.

The actor shared the video on her YouTube channel as part of the #JugnuChallenge on YouTube Shorts.

She shared it on her Instagram Stories and asked her fans for their opinion.

Anushka resumed work earlier last month, and has been shooting for various brand commitments since. She was last seen in Shah Rukh Khan’s 2018 film ‘Zero’. It is speculated that she will make an acting comeback with a Jhulan Goswami biopic.

Divya Dutta on pay disparity among actors Pay disparity has been a matter of discussion for a long time in Bollywood. While things are changing for female stars, actor Divya Dutta feels the inherent belief is still the same: “We live in a male-dominated society, where we are hero driven.

But I think with the onset of OTT, there’s been democratisation.”

Several reports suggest that some female actors ask for a bigger pay cheque with more authority now. Actor Deepika Padukone, reportedly, had asked the makers of a film the same fees as her husband, actor Ranveer Singh. Divya Dutta, who will be seen next in the films 'Dhaakad' and 'Sharmaji Ki Beti'

says, “If anybody is doing that, it’s a personal choice. I’d do that with someone I have a great rapport with. That’s something you do out of sheer emotions, not because of pay disparity.”

But as far as pay parity goes, Dutta, who has been in the industry for close to three decades, feels there is still a “long way to go”.

She adds, “That is because we have our mass audience that is hero driven. Aisa nahin hai ki actresses ko kuch milta nahin hai, but it is about demand and supply. There are top heroines who charge as much as the hero.”

Emphasising on what it’s like on OTTs now, she says, “Stars or newcomers, everyone gets equal opportunities, and you can put them in whatever genre you want.”

Hrithik to sing for ‘Krrish 4’ Hrithik Roshan is all set to sing again in ‘Krrish 4’ after rendering some lines 10 years back in ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ and ‘Kites’. The actor announced the fourth instalment of his superhero franchise recently, and his uncle and music director Rajesh Roshan has revealed there is a possibility he will sing in the movie.

Roshan shared that work on the music of the movie will begin “as soon as the final script is locked”. Hrithik's father Rakesh Roshan is returning as a director for ‘Krrish 4’. Rajesh said, “Rakesh ji is working on the script. With time, you also grow with the new techniques of sound and music, which I want to portray in the compositions of ‘Krrish 4’. Now the music system in every household is so advanced that one has to adapt to the modern techniques to match these inventions.”

About the possibility of Hrithik singing, he will sing in ‘Krrish 4’, he said, “Mostly he will sing. There will be one song for sure.” The actor sang ‘Señorita’ along with Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol in ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ and ‘Kites in the Sky’ in ‘Kites’.

‘Krrish 4’ is the second film in the franchise directed by Rakesh Roshan. Its prequel ‘Koi Mil Gaya’ laid the foundation story of Rohit Mehra who gets superhuman abilities after befriending an alien.

30 BOLLYWOOD

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AsianVoiceNewsweekly

www.asian-voice.com

6 - 12 November 2021

Katrina denies wedding rumours with Vicky Kaushal

Indian Oscar jury rejects ‘Sardar Udham’ and history

Rumours of actors Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal’s December wedding have been doing the rounds for quite some time now.

While the two are occasionally spotted together out and about in Mumbai, they have remained tight-lipped about each other and are yet to talk about their relationship.

While a few reports are suggesting that Katrina and Vicky will tie the knot soon, Kat has now denied any plans to get married. She said that such reports were baseless and when asked the reason for such rumours, she said, “That’s a question I have had for last 15 years.”

Earlier last month, when Vicky Kaushal was promoting his film ‘Sardar Udham’, he was asked by photographers about his supposed engagement. He had said, “The news was circulated by your friends (media). I’ll get engaged soon enough, when the time is right. The time will come.”

On the work front, Katrina is currently busy promoting Rohit Shetty’s, Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘Sooryavanshi’. She is also shooting for ‘Tiger 3’ with Salman Khan. Meanwhile, Vicky is shooting for Shashank Khaitan’s ‘Mr Lele’. He will also be seen in Meghna Gulzar’s ‘Sam Bahadur’.

Bhumi Pednekar joins Anubhav Sinha’s ‘Bheed’ Actor Bhumi Pednekar has joined the cast in filmmaker Anubhav Sinha’s upcoming socio political drama ‘Bheed’, co-starring Rajkummar Rao. The movie will be jointly produced by Sinha and Bhushan Kumar, who previously backed the filmmaker’s ‘Thappad’. Sinha, of ‘Mulk’ and ‘Article 15’ fame said Bhumi fit the bill for his upcoming film as she is an assured actor and a woman with a mind of her own.

In a statement, he said, “That’s the quality this character needs to have. I couldn’t have asked for a better cast. These are performers who not only shine every time they are on screen; they elevate the written word to create magic on screen. I am blessed to have the team I am working with.”

Bhumi, meanwhile, said she is honoured to team up with Sinha for the project. The 32 year old actor said, “He shares my value system in believing that movies have the power to shift mindsets. As artists, the responsibility of telling such stories lies with us. Same goes for Bhushan Kumar who allows his writers, directors and actors to be gutsy, giving them the confidence like being the inspired producer he is. This is a crackling subject and I can’t wait to get on to the journey of this film.”

The sociopolitical drama will be shot across Lucknow, where Sinha recently conducted an elaborate recce. Kumar, who is backing the film through his production house T-Series, said he is extremely proud of ‘Bheed’ and the subject it tackles.

Emraan reveals witnessing an exorcism as a child Actor Emraan Hashmi may be known as a romance expert, he is also known for his affinity towards the horror genre. The actor has always shared that it was his love towards the genre that got him to take up such movies. The actor is currently looking forward to the release of horror film ‘Dybbuk’, which is set to premiere on Amazon Prime video.

His first Hindi film with a Hebrew title, Emraan said, “It is an unusual title which means ghost and is perfect as it defines our film. We have done away with the supernatural cliches which we see in horror films.

It is an extremely unpredictable film. I had watched the original three years back and loved it.” Emraan himself has had an encounter with the supernatural onscreen.

Narrating a tale from his childhood, where he witnessed an exorcism that left him shaken, Emraan said, “I cannot link it with the supernatural as there are some things which have no explanation. My mother followed Christianity and would regularly take me to the church. When I was about seven-eight, we had gone for a sermon, and an exorcism was happening in there. I didn’t see but heard it, and I don’t know if it was a man or a woman. However, at that age, or any age, it was pretty much the most frightening thing,” Emraan said.

He further shared that he is quite a rational person, but he feels it would be arrogant on his part to say that the supernatural cannot exist.

Vicky Kaushal starrer and Shoojit Sircar directed 'Udham Singh' is out of the race of India’s official entry to the Oscars after Tamil film 'Koozhangal' beat it and 'Sherni' amongst other movies. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor while talking about Indian history had said, “We are scratching at wounds that have already healed.” Toeing in line with this sentiment, Indraadip Dasgupta, who was part of the jury that rejected the film's entry remarked, “..it (the film) again projects our hatred towards the British. In this era of globalization, it is not fair to hold on to this hatred.”

It is a story on the life of Sardar Udham Singh, a revolutionary freedom fighter. He went down in history for assassinating Michael O’Dwyer in London to take revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar. The film received widespread applause and an IMDb rating of 9.2.

The film was one among 14 shortlisted for India’s official entry to the Oscars.

Despite the resounding success, the jury did not find the film good enough to make the cut citing outrageous reasons.

Dasgupta while defending their Oscar selection criticized the film for ‘harping on hatred’. “Sardar Udham is a wellmade production with brilliant cinematography that lives up to international standards. But it is a little lengthy and harps on the Jallianwala Bagh incident,” Dasgupta said, downplaying one of the bloodiest chapters of Indian history.

Nawazuddin quits OTT, calls it dumping ground Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui will quit working in productions made for the streaming market. He called the online platforms ‘a dumping ground for redundant shows’. In the past few years, there has been a surge in content on streaming platforms, including Amazon Prime, Hotstar and Netflix. Coincidentally, Nawaz had starred in Netflix’s first Indian original series Sacred Games, which received international acclaim. He played the role of the hardened and dreaded gangster Ganesh Gaitonde, and received much praise for his performance. The series starred Saif Ali Khan as well.

In an interview, Nawaz said, “The platform has become a dumping ground for redundant shows. We either have shows that don’t deserve to be seen in the first place or sequels to shows that have nothing

more to say,” he said.

He added, “It’s become ‘dhanda’ (Hindi for racket) for big production houses and actors. Major film producers in Bollywood have cut lucrative deals with all the big players in the OTT field. Producers get whopping amounts to create unlimited content.” He mentioned that the excitement and challenge that he had experienced when he worked in 'Sacred Games' has evaporated. “When I can’t bear to watch them how can I bear to be in them?” Nawaz said.

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Samantha deletes wedding pictures from Instagram are still available on the account. They either date back to 2017, or feature common friends. New photos featuring the former couple with their dog are also available on the actor’s handle. Earlier this month, Naga Chaitanya and Samantha announced that they will be parting ways as husband and wife. The couple had tied the knot in 2017.

Actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu appears to have deleted almost all her wedding and vacation pictures featuring her former husband Naga Chaitanya from Instagram. Recent most pictures of Samantha and Naga at actor Rana Daggubati’s wedding are among the ones to vanish from ‘The Family Man’ actor’s account.

However, a few pictures of Naga

Nitu Chandra learns to Parvathy Thiruvothu reveals delay entering Bollywood fight with a Japanese sword

audience,” she said.

Parvathy is known to be vocal about issues such as gender inequality and sexual harassment at workplace. One would assume she prefers playing “a woman with a strong mind and invincible nature”. However, Parvathy says, “I want to be able to play individuals who have never found courage, strength or love, including sadists who intend harm or those who want to do well for others. I feel the constant need to explore a person’s psyche and thereby, exercise empathy and learn better.”

Actress Parvathy Thiruvothu, who marked her foray into Bollywood opposite late actor Irrfan Khan in ‘Qarib Qarib Singlle’ was not seen in more Hindi films despite receiving a lot of positive attention. While she is keen on making a career in the Hindi film industry, she tells us she is waiting for the right part.

“I’ve been offered extremely few projects and I believe they were either very similar to the journeys of the characters I’ve played in other languages or to the character I played in ‘Qarib Qarib Single’. I’m still waiting for that one project which would be a very different experience for me as well as the

Rajinikanth discharged from hospital, back home!

Actress Nitu Chandra is among those actresses who takes stunts seriously. The 'Yaavarum Nalam' actress is also a martial artist and fitness freak. And now, she is adding one more stunt technique to her stunt skills - fighting with a Japanese sword or katana. "Started my Japanese Sword class today," the actress shared on her social media page earlier in the day.

She also shared a video of her first day training with her instructor Tony Surphman, who is training her in acting action. "1st day of d acting action class with @tonysurphman Love it so me,sooo much to learn, everyday of life. Gratitude," she wrote on her social media page.

In the video, the actress - who is currently in the US is seen coming out of a door and practising punching and kicking with her stunt guru.

Nitu Chandra, who was last seen in Tamil in 2017, in actor Nakkhul's Bramma.com, is now gearing up for the release of her Hollywood film, 'Never Back Down: Revolt.' The martial arts movie is the fourth film in the 'Never Back Down' series and is directed by Kellie Madison. Nitu plays a character named Jaya in the film and with today being Halloween, she also shared a few behind-the-scenes stills from the action film while wishing her fans a happy Halloween.

Superstar Rajinikanth, who recently underwent a carotid artery revascularisation surgery, returned home on Sunday after being discharged from a private hospital in Chennai. The 'Annaatthe' star, who had been admitted to the Kauvery Hospital in Chennai took to his social networking page to update his fans of him returning home.

Taking to his Twitter handle, Rajinikanth updated his fans about the news by sharing a picture of himself praying in front of his home temple. Sharing picture of himself praying in front of his home temple along with a voice note, he wrote, "Returned home," and added a folded hands emoticon to it.

Through his daughter's recently launched voice-based social media app, Rajinikanth said,

"Treatment is over, I'm doing well. I've returned home tonight. I thank everyone who prayed for my health and everyone who enquired about my health.

Thank you."

Rajinikanth, who was in New Delhi a few days back to receive the Dadasaheb Phalke Award had gone to the Kauvery hospital for a routine checkup, where he later had to be admitted. He was admitted on October 28 and discharged on Sunaday evening. As per the statement issued by the hospital, Rajinikanth underwent carotid endarterectomy which is a surgical procedure that removes plaque from the inside of a patient's carotid artery in order to restore normal blood flow to the brain.

SATURDAY 6 NOV 6.00

TV Listing

HALAMAN JETHWO

14.00 RASOI SHOW

18.30 ABHILASHA - EK ASTITVANI 19.00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR 19.30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 8 NOV FRI 12 NOV 2021 6.00

DHOLO MARA MALAK NO

14.00 RASOI SHOW

18.30 ABHILASHA - EK ASTITVANI 19.00 BHAKT GORA KUMBHAR

19.30 MARU MAN MOHI GAYU 20.00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI

20.00 RASHI RIKSHAWALI 20.30 MANASA

21.00 PREM NI BHAVAI

21.30 BOLO KETLA TAKA

SUNDAY 7 NOV

12.00 Vifreli Vaghan

15.00 Apne To Chhie Bindass

18.00 MANASA

20.30 MANASA

19.00 SHU CHALE CHE

21.30 BOLO KETLA TAKA

22.00 SHU CHALE CHE

21.00 PREM NI BHAVAI

19.30 ABHILASHA - EK ASTITVANI

* Schedule is subject to change

MON 8 NOV FRI 12 NOV 2021 8.30 BHARADWAJ BAHUEIN 15.00 DIL KA RISHTA 15.30 DIL SE DIL TAK 16.00 TUM KAUN PIYA 16.30 RASOI SHOW DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 BIGG BOSS 15-WEEKEND KA VAAR 19.30 20.00 20.30 21.00 21.30

EK SHRINGAAR SWABHIMAAN BALIKA VADHU 2 BARRISTER BABU THAPKI PYAR KI 2 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2

SATURDAY 6 NOV 14.00 BIGG BOSS 15 16.30 RASOI SHOW-DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 BIGG BOSS 15 19.00 BHAGYA KA LIKHA 19.30 EK SHRINGAAR SWABHIMAAN 20.00 DESI BEAT RESET 20.30 FEET UP WITH THE STARS (SEASON 2) 21.00 THAPKI PYAR KI 2 21.30 SASURAL SIMAR KA 2 SUNDAY 7 NOV 14.00 BIGG BOSS 15-WEEKEND KA VAAR 16.30 RASOI SHOW-DESI FLAVOURS 17.30 BIGG BOSS 15 19.00 BHAGYA KA LIKHA 19.30 EK SHRINGAAR SWABHIMAAN 20.00 DESI BEAT RESET 20.30 BFFS WITH VOGUE (SEASON 1)

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Yorkshire racism report ruled Azeem Rafiq being called 'P**i' was 'banter' At least one Yorkshire player admitted to regularly using the term 'P**i' when talking to Azeem Rafiq, according to the report into racism at the club. But he was cleared of wrongdoing on the basis that it was perceived as, what the report says was, friendly, goodnatured "banter" between the two players.

The player also admitted to telling other people "don't talk to him [Rafiq], he's a P**i", asking "is that your uncle?" when they saw bearded Asian men and saying "does your dad own those?" in reference to corner shops.

Despite admitting recalling that Rafiq broke down in tears at one point, the player insisted he had no idea he was causing offence and would have stopped if Rafiq had asked. The individual

Azeem Rafiq

concerned whose name has not been revealed is a current senior player at the club.

Yorkshire admit Azeem Rafiq suffered from 'racial harassment' while at club - but refuse to release the report. While the investigating team found such comments to be "capable of creating an

intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive and environment…" accepted Rafiq's "evidence that he was offended, degraded or humiliated and that this amounted to harassment under the Equality Act and the Club's Equal Opportunities policy", the panel (who were charged with making conclusions and recommendations and which included a non-executive member of the Yorkshire board) disagreed.

Their conclusions state "The Panel does not accept that Rafiq was offended by [the other player's] comments, either at the time they were made or

subsequently."

They go on to say that, in the context of "banter between friends" Rafiq might be "expected to take such comments in the spirit in which they were intended (i.e. good natured banter between friends)… [so] it was not reasonable for Rafiq to have been offended by [the other player] directing equally offensive or derogatory comments back at him in the same spirit of friendly banter."

Indeed, the panel accuses Rafiq of using "offensive, racially derogatory comments" when referring to a player of Zimbabwean heritage as "Zimbo from Zimbabwe". The panel viewed this as "a racist, derogatory term" and recommends that, were Rafiq still a Yorkshire player, he

should face disciplinary action for using it.

The revelation, which comes days after Yorkshire announced that none of their players, coaches or executives would face disciplinary action as a result of the investigation, may increase doubts over the process and the report that has produced. In particular, equating the terms 'P**i', which is a long-established derogatory term with a history of racist usage, and 'Zimbo', which is generally held to be an abbreviation akin to Aussie or Kiwi without pejorative association, is likely to raise eyebrows.

The ECB, who have been sent Yorkshire's report in recent days after several month's delay, are reviewing the currently information.

Buttler ton sets up England’s India’s WC dreams virtually over 26-run win over Sri Lanka A crucial unbeaten century by Jos Buttler set up England’s 26run win over Sri Lanka in a Group 1 match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday. With this win, England made it four out of four victories in the tournament and increased their chances of topping Group 1 as well as reaching the semifinals.

Buttler’s unbeaten knock of 101 off 67 balls, laced with six fours and as many sixes, took England to 163/4 in 20 overs.

In reply, Sri Lanka overcame an early wobble and looked set to chase the target. But England’s persistence with the ball, despite dew coming into play, meant that Sri Lanka were all out for 137 in 19 overs.

Sri Lanka got off to a poor start as they lost Pathum Nissanka on the third ball of the innings to a run-out. Charith Asalanka took a brace of boundaries against Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali in successive overs. But his joyride was cut short when he chipped an Adil Rashid googly to mid-off in the fourth over.

Rashid came back in his next over to take out Kusal Perera, who miscued a googly to extra cover.

England hand Aussies a thrashing Saturday’s Super 12 clash between arch rivals England and Australia was described by England skipper Eoin Morgan as his team’s most difficult challenge on the eve of the game. He also labelled them as second favourites for the title after his team. May be it was his way of taking the mickey out of the Aussies as the 2010 champions blew away the 2010 runners up by chasing 126 with eight wickets and 50 balls to spare with a combination of savagery and skill.

The skill was provided by Chris Woakes (2-23) in the powerplay and player of the match and England’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is, Chris Jordan (3-17) in the death. The savagery was dished out by Jos Buttler 71 (32 balls). Buttler’s long-range striking with a high grip like a golfer saw him cart Mitchell Starc for two sixes. He also didn’t spare Adam Zampa, thereby targeting two of the main bowlers in the rival camp and demoralizing them. It was a throwback to what Sri Lankan marauder Sanath Jayasuriya used to do at the peak of his powers in the mid-1990s.

Millar clinches a thriller for SA If two shots could ever decide the fate of

a match, then this game was a classic example of it. Capitalising on two misfired length balls

by Lahiru Kumara, David Miller, that old pro, blasted two massive sixes over the cow corner in the final over, to take South Africa to a nerve-wracking, four-wicket win over Sri Lanka in a T20 World Cup Group I match in Sharjah on Saturday.

Sri Lanka looked to be the favourites when the Proteas needed 25 off the final two overs with just four wickets in hand, but a six in the penultimate over by Kagiso Rabada off Dushmantha Chameera eased the pressure, before ‘killer’ Miller produced his magic to finish the game in style. Miller has now hit 77 sixes in T20 - the maximum by a South African batter in T20I. Pakistan outplay Afghanistan The Afghan warriors did their best but this is a Pakistan team of rare quality. They know how to eke out a result in their favour when things are spiraling out of control and that’s the trait of a champion team. Asif Ali, Pakistan right-hander came to the party yet again when it seemed Group 2 would be thrown open by Afghanistan. He came in at the fall of Shoaib Malik on a pitch where the ball was stopping a bit, but it seemed he was there from ball 1. Asif knew Afghanistan paceman Karim Janat was the weak-link in the Afghanistan attack and he launched a vicious attack as Pakistan needed 24 off 12.

Four sixes flew from his bat in the 19th over as Janat looked a fish out of water and Pakistan notched up their third win and they are well on course to finish on top of the group. But till the 19th over, Afghanistan fought for every inch. While Gulbadan Naik and Mohammed Nabi were brilliant in their 71-run seventh-wicket partnership to give Afghanistan a fighting chance, the likes of Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman were on the mark when it came to restricting Pakistan batsmen.

Rishabh Pant’s constant exhortations from behind the stumps for 'one more wicket', lacked the ring of conviction and may as well have fallen on deaf ears.

As New Zealand, without any scoreboard pressure chasing 111, cantered along merrily, with Darryl Mitchell (49 off 35) at times toying with the muchvaunted attack, India’s shoulders drooped, the faces went grim and their pretournament billing appeared manufactured.

Even the usually exuberant-till-the-last Virat Kohli seemed to have a black cloud hovering over him.

Professional sportsmen learn to accept defeat with equanimity but the smile left the Indian captain completely as he kept shuffling nervously with hands behind his back.

New Zealand, all the while, marched inexorably towards victory. When they eventually did so, by 8

wickets with 33 balls remaining, it was a completely dominant and thoroughly clinical performance.

Was Kohli thinking about whether his captaincy was destined to end without an ICC trophy? Was Rohit Sharma, as he trudged back to his fielding position after every ball, still smarting about being demoted from his usual opening slot? Had the Indian Premier League left India’s top players drained?

Was there an acceptance, from those responsible beyond the field of play, that India’s squad selection may not have been ideal? Had the introduction

of MS Dhoni as lastminute interlocutor between coach Ravi Shastri and Kohli led to too many talking heads?

“It was quite bizarre,” Kohli said afterwards about the defeat. “Our body language was not right as we entered the field.”

India’s second straight shellacking in as many games has effectively ruined their World Cup dreams and left them staring at an early exit.

Barring an accident for New Zealand against one of the minnows, India are out of the semifinals, leaving them with a lot of time to mull over the questions that matter. New Zealand were in control throughout and every change captain Kane Williamson made came off.

So completely dominant were the bowlers, right from the Powerplay on, that for the first time in this World Cup, there was no boundary hit between overs 7-15.

11 recommended for Khel Ratna awards An unprecedented 11 sportspersons have been recommended for this year’s rechristened Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna by the national sports awards selection committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Mukundakum Sharma.

This is the first time so many names have been recommended for a single edition of the awards ceremony. Last year, the government had honoured a total of 74 sportspersons with the national sports and adventure awards in different segments. The awardees included five in the Khel Ratna category and 27 for Arjuna.

This year, a total of 72 names have been recommended for the Khel Ratna, Arjuna (35), Dhyan Chand, Dronacharya (regular) and Dronacharya (lifetime). The list doesn’t include names of athletes, corporates and sports promotion boards and top-

performing universities recommended for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar (RKPP), Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) trophy and Tenzing Norgay award.

Among those who have been recommended for the Khel Ratna – India’s highest sporting honour – include Tokyo Olympics gold medallist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, silver-winning men’s freestyle wrestler Ravi Dahiya, Tokyo bronze medallist woman welterweight boxer Lovlina Borgohain and men’s hockey team’s goalkeeper P R Sreejesh. Five para-athletes, who created history by winning gold each at the Tokyo Paralympics, have also been nominated for the Khel Ratna. These include Pramod Bhagat (para-badminton), Sumit Antil (para-javelin), Avani Lekhara (parashooting), Krishna Nagar (para-badminton) and Manish Narwal (para-shooting).